


promise

by ChangeTheCircumstances



Series: All's Fair in Rock and Roll [2]
Category: Cyberpunk 2077 (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Dysfunctional Relationships, Family, Fix-It of Sorts, Forgiveness is a long road, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-20
Updated: 2021-02-20
Packaged: 2021-03-18 17:33:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 32,104
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28870881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChangeTheCircumstances/pseuds/ChangeTheCircumstances
Summary: When V and Kerry return home from vacation, an unexpected guest has them both facing challenges they never planned for.
Relationships: Kerry Eurodyne/Male V, others
Series: All's Fair in Rock and Roll [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2117169
Comments: 56
Kudos: 276





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Welp, here's the sequel you all said you'd be down for! Obviously with there being no cyberware, less time having passed, the fact that Johnny aged alongside Kerry and the other characters, and that Kerry and V met beforehand means this reunion and the story is very different from what happened in the game. Hopefully it still feels in character and you all enjoy it.
> 
> I'm not positive how many chapters this story will have, but I'm imagining it will be close to the size of the first story. Depending on how I feel at the end of this one, this will also either be the last story in this series, or there might be one last one or a long one-shot to tie everything off (just because I like how trilogies feel).
> 
> I also plan to try and update once a week (ideally much sooner than that but writing the last story so quickly took a lot out of me and I doubt I'll be able to keep that same work ethic up with this one). With all that said, thank you for any returning readers and new ones. I hope you enjoy <3

Going on vacation had been a good way to take a break from Night City. To just relax. To focus on his relationship with Kerry. It should have ended with Kerry driving V and him back from the airport and straight home. They should have collapsed in bed because fuck time zones, and then the next day they should have visited a few people. Caught up with friends. Handed out some presents. It would have been such a simple way to start off the week after the end of a great trip.

Instead, Kerry slowed to a halt in his driveway as both he and V stared at an unknown car. The person had somehow managed to get past the gate and had locked up because it had been closed when they’d arrived. However, neither recognized the car. It wasn’t Nancy or Judy. It wasn’t even Mama Welles’ truck which would have been real fucking weird, but at least it would have been recognizable.

V got out right away. He really wished he had a gun on him. He knew where one in the house was. He just hoped to god it was still there. “Stay here, I guess…call the police. I’ll be right back.”

“No way! If you’re going in, I’m going too.”

V let out a small sigh, but he could see there was no arguing with Kerry. They could both wait out here, but there was no telling how long it would take for the police to arrive. Or for whoever was here to notice they were back either. Better to get the upper hand first.

V got out of the car and headed to the front door. It was unlocked. V shot Kerry a worrying look before he carefully pushed the door open. Upon not seeing anyone right away, V made a beeline to where he knew one of his guns should be. He’d kept it more out of habit considering he always had a weapon near at his apartment. He’d never thought he’d actually have to use it though.

As he moved across the floor, his ears strained to hear anything. Someone was on the second floor. He could tell that. They were watching something. Music? It wasn’t Kerry’s, yet somehow it sounded familiar.

V opened the drawer. Thankfully, the gun was still there. V took it, checked that the bullets were still in, and then moved towards the stairs.

A quick glance around at the environment also told V that this person or persons had been here for a while. Kerry wasn’t always the cleanest person, but the place had been spotless when they’d left for the Philippines. V could see the evidence that the house hadn’t been empty for some time.

V moved up the stairs. He could practically feel how upset Kerry was behind him. He was full on ready to go off on whoever this was. However, V kept one hand out and slightly behind. V was in protection mode. The moment something went wrong, he was shoving himself in front of Kerry or pushing Kerry to the side while he unloaded his clip. Whatever he needed to do to keep Kerry safe.

He walked around a corner and it finally clicked what he was hearing. It was Samurai. Old concert clips. There was a man on the couch. His hair was long and pulled back in a ponytail. He looked around Kerry’s age, possibly older. There were odd scars on his left arm. It looked like old shrapnel that had been embedded in the skin, never properly taken out so the flesh had partially grown over and around it. It gave an almost silver shine—

Wait.

V’s eyes went from the man’s face to the lead singer on the TV screen. The aviators were replaced with different sunglasses. The Samurai tank top was instead a short sleeve shirt. The hair was longer but—

Kerry had finally come up right behind V and was suddenly pushing past him. V was too stunned to stop him.

“This isn’t fucking happening.”

“I was wondering when the hell you’d get back Ker. Was beginning to think I’d just get to keep this ugly fucking house for myself. It had better have been expensive.”

“What…what the hell are you doing here?”

“Well Rogue said no to letting me stay over so—”

“I mean what the hell are you doing alive!” exploded Kerry.

V slowly lowered his gun but didn’t put it away yet. It was him. The infamous terrorist who’d blown up ‘saka Tower. Who’d reportedly died in the blast. The anarchist. The revolutionary. The singer of Samurai. Kerry’s old friend. And he’d just broken into Kerry’s fucking home and been living there for…who knew how long.

“I tried calling,” Johnny fucking Silverhand said like this was somehow fucking normal.

“Like that’s some kind of fucking excuse! You were dead! Are dead! You died! They identified your fucking body—”

“They got it wrong.”

“I swear to god Johnny, if you tell me you’ve spent the last twenty years riding free with the nomads or some bullshit, wind in your hair, I am going to fucking lose—”

“Well now that you mention it—”

“Get out!”

“Is that any way to treat a friend?”

“I said get the fuck out of my house!”

Before V could move, Kerry turned back to him, snatched the gun out of his hands, and walked straight back to Johnny with the weapon pointed at his face.

And Johnny just shook his head. Like this wasn’t a big deal. Like somehow it was Kerry that was overreacting here, and he just needed to calm down. Yet when V looked at Kerry’s face, V honestly couldn’t tell if he would or wouldn’t pull the trigger. The closest to this was when V had seen Kerry upset over the shit his old manager had pulled, yet that rage paled in comparison to this.

“Wow. Great fucking welcome,” Johnny sarcastically said as he stood up.

“You broke into my house! And if you say you called one more fucking time, I will pull this trigger, so help me! Now get the fuck out.”

They just stared at each other, unblinking, unmoving. And then Johnny just shrugged his shoulders again. “Whatever. Have fun with your fucking joytoy I guess.”

Johnny took a step around Kerry, but Kerry stepped with him, gun still pointed at his head. “Don’t ever go near V. You hear me?”

“What? Couldn’t be bothered to remember their names so you just have a rotating alphabetical list?”

“Fuck you.”

“Pfft. You know, I expected you to be upset. But seriously? Not even a smile? Come on. Where the hell else was I supposed to stay?”

Kerry’s response was softer now. He sounded so fucking tired. “Leave.”

Johnny just rolled his eyes. He didn’t give V a second glance as he walked off. Kerry dropped his arm, the gun just hanging at his side. V was trying to figure out what he could do. What he could say. He suddenly jumped when Johnny Silverhand walked by him. He had a bag thrown over his shoulder. Again, he didn’t even look at V, only looking at Kerry as he said, “Listen, when you’re done being a little bitch about this, you can find me through Rogue. Know how to get in touch with Nancy?”

“No,” Kerry lied. He didn’t turn around. Didn’t look back.

“Fucking shame. See you later Kerry. And don’t forget to stock up that bar of yours.”

V watched the man go. Johnny fucking Silverhand. Alive. Jesus. V took several steps after him. Just making sure he was actually leaving. Once the front door was shut behind him, V immediately went back to Kerry’s side. He still hadn’t moved. V got even closer. He waited to see if Kerry would do anything rash. When he didn’t, V slowly reached for the gun before gently removing it from Kerry’s hand.

That seemed to at least snap Kerry out of it. He immediately started looking around. The TV still blaring. “Where the fuck is the remote? Where the fuck-of course he left this place in a fucking state. At least I know where I put my own shit. Where is it? Where the fuck is it—”

“It’s right here. It’s ok Kerry.” V quickly turned off the TV.

“But it’s not ok! Not a word! Nothing for over a decade—”

“You’re right,” V quickly said. “I don’t know why I said it. It’s totally fucking fucked. But you’re just working yourself up.”

“You think I don’t know that! Shit. I’m sorry V. I’m sorry I yelled just-fuck.” Kerry collapsed on the couch. He put his face in his hands and just sat there for a second before a shuddering sigh escaped his lips and he whispered, “And right after I’d finally forgotten him.”

“What do you mean?” asked V.

Kerry hesitated. Then he finally scooted over. V accepted the offering and sat next to him. He offered his hand. After a second, Kerry took it and squeezed tight, not letting up as he started to talk.

“I guess I didn’t really fully explain it. I only mentioned Johnny once or twice, right?”

V nodded.

“Well, I guess you could say that wasn’t planned. Just…I used to think of him all the time. I felt like I was living in Johnny’s shadow. I sometimes doubted I deserved anything I’d achieved. That I was nothing but a fucking pawn and no one saw me. Then I started to isolate myself and I just kept feeding into those thoughts more and more and—but then the last six months happened. I finally stopped thinking about him. I realized I could move past it. That I’d made my peace with Johnny and everything that had happened between us. I had my music and my work. I had Nancy and you. I had people who I cared about and who cared about me, and for once in my life I was no longer thinking about Johnny fucking Silverhand only for him to turn up alive all this fucking time and—fuck.”

“Kerry, my hand—”

“Sorry. Sorry.” Kerry finally let up the pressure, though he didn’t actually let go of V’s hand. “I just…I have no idea why the hell he would show up again, but whatever it is I don’t fucking trust it.”

“Do you think there’s a reason he asked after Nancy? Do you think he knows she’s in the media now, or is he just looking for old connections?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know if I should tell Nancy or not. The fact that he’s in contact with Rogue is worrisome too,” sighed Kerry.

Silverhand had said that name, and from what little V knew of the terrorist, he had to ask, “Wait, you mean Rogue the fixer?”

“I didn’t realize you knew her,” Kerry admitted. “Though I suppose considering your line of work…”

“I don’t really. More know of her. Saw her from a distance once. I’m surprised you know her though.”

“Back in the day because of Johnny. We met a few times. She’s smart so I doubt whatever Johnny has planned she’ll give in to it, but it still doesn’t mean anything good considering the last time they worked together was when the tower blew. Knowing him, this is about Arasaka again.”

“You seriously think so?”

“I-no. I’m not wasting another fucking second thinking about him. He doesn’t deserve my god damn time. I just want to fucking clean up his mess and pretend he’s still fucking dead.”

V looked at Kerry. It was hard to say if he really meant that or not. However, V left it for now. He simply said, “I’ll clean. Unpack. You rest. I think it would do you some good.”

“All by yourself?”

“I don’t mind. Just rest. And if you want to talk about it after your head’s clearer, I’m here. If not, we’ll leave it for now.”

“Thanks V,” sighed Kerry. He brought V’s hand to his lips. “Love you.”

“You too. Now go rest.”

V made sure Kerry did and then quickly went about getting rid of any evidence that Johnny Silverhand had been there at all. He checked on Kerry regularly, but once the man’s head had hit the pillow, he’d gone out like a light. V threw away trash. More than just a few bottles as Kerry’s personal bar really was almost empty. V even found that the two packs of cigarettes that normally would have lasted Kerry well over two months were completely used up in an ash tray.

Only once most everything was gone or put back where it should be did V go outside to grab their bags.

And they’d had such a good vacation. V didn’t feel like this had ruined it, but god he wished Kerry hadn’t just gone through that. Or at least Silverhand could have been more tactful or something. Like V thought of Jackie as a brother, but he would have never just broken into his fucking house and crashed without permission. Jesus.

V did all he could before his own exhaustion after the long fight started to catch up with him. He got dressed for bed and was ready to join Kerry when he got a call. He didn’t recognize the number. It was tempting to ignore it, but considering he’d been away from Night City for so long, he probably needed to catch up on jobs and connections.

He answered.

“I’ve got a job for you V.”

“Sorry, but I’ll need a name first.”

“That’s cute kid. It’s Rogue. Meet me at the Afterlife tomorrow right at ten in the morning. Don’t be late.”

“W-wait!” Had he really just come home to see Johnny Silverhand alive and on the couch, only to have the queen of the Afterlife just call him up? “What’s the job?”

“After the shit that happened with Dexter Deshawn, you’re really asking questions huh? You’ve got balls kid, I’ll give you that. All you need to know is that if you’re tired of being locked out of the real gigs, you’ll come. See you then kid.”

She hung up.

Rogue knew his name. She knew his number. For her, it was probably child’s play to get that kind of information. What was really surprising was that for some reason she wanted him of all people for a job despite never having any contact prior. And right after V and Kerry had just mentioned her? What in the hell had this day become?

V saved the number so he would recognize it later along with making a note of the planned time. He wasn’t actually sold on if he’d go or not. He wasn’t a fan of not knowing any details, but he would decide tomorrow. For now, he was ready to just sleep.

He put his phone away and crawled into bed with Kerry. From the way he was moving around, it seemed like he’d just started to have a bad dream. V put his arm around him and kissed his shoulder. Kerry stilled a little, turning towards V in his sleep. No matter what Kerry had said about wanting to ignore Johnny’s existence, it seemed his subconscious might not let him.

V wished he could do more, but for the moment, all he could do was fall asleep with Kerry and just wonder what tomorrow would bring.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp I said about a week wait, but it's always fun to get out a chapter early too haha. Hope you enjoy and I think the amount of chapters will be between 15 and 20. But still need to do a bit more plotting before saying for sure. Thank you as always to everyone who came over from my last fic and thank you for continuing this one.
> 
> Also wrote a quick vampire, very dark one-shot for anyone interested haha.

V woke up to find Kerry gone. He briefly wondered if maybe yesterday had all been a fever dream. However, the moment he found Kerry in the kitchen, he knew that it had been all too real.

Kerry’s phone was on speaker as it sat on the counter and Kerry yelled, “I can’t find a single fucking thing in the god damn freezer because he ate all that shit too!”

Nancy’s voice was the one that came from the speaker. “How high was he?”

Welp, so much for Johnny Silverhand not still being dead and for Kerry not thinking about him.

“I don’t think he was actually. Though he had been drinking. But when wasn’t he? Isn’t he. Fuck!” Kerry slammed his head against the door right as he closed the fridge. He turned around and let out a tired sigh before his eyes finally came up. “Hey V.”

“Hi,” V murmured.

“Wait,” came Nancy’s voice. “Does that mean Johnny met V?”

“Yes and he called him a prostitute! I’m going to kick his ass for that alone!”

She let out an unexpected snort.

“Nancy!”

“Sorry. If this wasn’t such a serious situation, you’d have to admit that’s a little funny.”

“Just…tell me if he contacts you. Ok? I don’t want him anywhere near us.”

“He might not since I doubt he knows about my name change. But aren’t you even the smallest bit curious why he’s back now? What happened?”

“Of course I’m curious! But I am happy. I am finally fucking happy and it would be just like Johnny to insert himself and ruin that too. I’m not fucking having it.”

“Fair. I doubt age has exactly tamed him. And I’d be pissed too if he’d broken into my house.”

“See! I am not overreacting,” grumbled Kerry. He turned to a cabinet and opened it. A loud, irritated groan left his lips. “I had a full bag of coffee grounds and he used it! Fucking hell Johnny!”

“Well it sounds like you need to go grocery shopping,” replied Nancy, “so I’ll let you go. And hey, this goes both ways. Tell me if he shows up again.”

“I will. I’ll talk to you later.”

“Take care.”

The phone beeped signaling she’d hung up. Kerry filled a glass with water and downed it. Picking up some food had been expected since they’d been gone so long, but they had planned to have some stuff left in the freezer and the cabinets. It seemed Johnny had cleared all that out.

“Alright, so shopping trip?” asked Kerry.

V wished he could just agree. However, he glanced at the time. Despite sleeping over ten hours, it was still relatively early. Their internal clock still needing time to adjust to the time zone again. It was close to the time Rogue had given him.

“What is it?”

V thought about not mentioning it for a second. Kerry had enough on his plate. Better yet, V should just ignore it and go shopping like what normal people did. And yet…

He was curious. He was hopeful. Ever since the Arasaka heist with Jackie, V had known he’d been locked out of some of the higher gigs. People didn’t want to work with a guy with that kind of reputation. Which was fine. For a while, he’d just been trying to build himself up again, get back in contact with the right fixers. Then there’d of course been his relationships with his friends along with Kerry and that whirlwind of emotion as he’d navigated it. But he was so damn curious what the hell the queen of fixers wanted with him.

“I have a job,” he finally admitted.

“A job? When the hell did that happen?”

“Yesterday. While you were asleep and I was cleaning.”

Kerry waited. When V didn’t immediately explain anything, he murmured, “You promised.”

“I did. I know I did. I’m sorry. I was just trying to think about how to tell you because I can see right now isn’t exactly a great time.”

“That’s why I want you to be especially honest right now,” replied Kerry. “Who gave you the job?”

V could tell that Kerry was afraid this was somehow related to Johnny. He didn’t exactly look more worried, but he wasn’t relieved either as V said, “It’s from Rogue.”

“And she’s never contacted you before?”

“Nope.”

“What is it?”

“I don’t know. All I know is I’m supposed to meet her in about an hour.”

“And you’re going to go,” sighed Kerry. When V tried to deny it, Kerry quickly added, “I can see you’re intrigued. I am too. And I don’t want my own opinions to completely control what you do so if you want to go, go. I just ask that if this has anything to do with Johnny, please do not take the job.”

“That would be one hell of a coincidence, don’t you think?”

“Well if it was going to happen any day…”

“You’re actually serious. Going to see Rogue is fine, which could end up being any number of insane requests, but you really don’t want Johnny Silverhand anywhere near me. Huh?”

“People have died because of him. The last thing I want is for your blood to be on his hands.”

It was interesting. The way he’d said it, obviously some of the fear seemed to be directed at V. But it almost sounded like Kerry would hate what that might do to Johnny too. Despite how pissed Kerry was at him, he still seemed to care. At least a little.

“I promise,” V finally said. “She even breaths a name that starts with a ‘j’ and I’m gone.”

“Thank you,” sighed Kerry. He walked over and hugged and kissed V. “Text me if you want me to grab anything specific. And text me once you know what the hell she wants from you. I know you think you’re being kind considering what I’m suddenly dealing with, but I still want to be in the loop.”

“I’ll tell you then.”

“Thank you. Be safe V. I’ll see you later.”

V nodded in agreement. He gave Kerry a quick kiss in return before heading back upstairs to get dressed. He checked how much time he would have before he decided to go to his apartment first. He drove there on Jackie’s motorcycle. His motorcycle he now thought of it. It felt good to be on it again, in between familiar buildings and driving on recognizable streets. He didn’t know about Kerry, but at least he was able to tune his mind to other things. Thoughts of checking in on Judy. Finally going to Misty and Jackie’s new place since they’d recently moved out. Getting those spices and things to Mama Welles from the trip. V was looking forward to seeing everyone.

At his apartment, V stocked up on ammo and took one of his best guns. Even if he didn’t accept Rogue’s job, he was headed to the Afterlife. The place was meant to be neutral ground, but there was still no telling what might happen when everyone and the bartender were packing.

V then went straight to the infamous bar. The last time he’d been was for the Arasaka heist. It had just been meant to be a quick in and out. They were just supposed to get a data chip on some of Arasaka’s dealings and pass them along to Dex. But Evelynn had gotten greedy. V had gotten stupid. The company that had hired her to get the details had found out she was going to drop the deal and sell the information for even more to another company. It had nearly gotten Evelynn killed. It had caused an assault on Arasaka as the other company had decided better to destroy the information they were after rather than letting someone else get the upper hand.

The crew had gotten caught in the middle when V should have pulled them out the moment things didn’t seem right.

Jackie had gotten paralyzed. T-Bug had gotten hacked back, her equipment destroyed. Dex had disappeared, absolutely no fucking help whatsoever, and V had left town not long after. At the time, he’d said he’d done it to avoid the heat, but he could now admit it was because he hadn’t wanted to face Jackie.

And despite it all, he was back at the Afterlife. Only instead of Dexter Deshawn waiting for him and Jackie at his side, V was alone as he walked up to the closed doors. Considering how early it was, the place wasn’t exactly busy. The guy standing in front, V was pretty sure he’d been there the last time, just asked for a name. V gave it and he was let in. There was music playing inside, but again not many people. The bar didn’t even seem to be open as no one was behind the counter.

It was easy to spot Rogue. She finished talking with someone, waved them away, and then gestured for V to come closer.

Her lips quirked upwards. She seemed amused.

V couldn’t help his sharp response. “What?”

“Just thinking that you look too smart of a person to ever rob Arasaka.”

“Call it character growth,” V sarcastically replied.

“Cute one kid. Sit.”

V did. He watched as she slid a folder across the table.

“There it is.”

“I haven’t accepted the job yet.”

“Then how about this. Anders Hellman. Ring a bell?”

V frowned. Should he say anything?

Rogue just let out a small sigh. She brushed her hair out of her face. “How about I save us both some time and say you’ve got no cards you’re holding from me.”

“Then you know Hellman was the one who cracked T-Bug’s defenses. The one who got us caught,” V finally admitted.

“You all got yourselves caught. It was a foolhardy endeavor, everyone wanting a piece of the pie before realizing the table was already empty. But I took note when you returned to town. I’ve watched you work. Simple jobs, clearly below your skills. I figured this job would let you get a little chance at revenge and I could make my final assessment on whether certain connections should be opened to you or not.”

“I appreciate that, but I’m not interested in revenge.”

“Ha! Then you are officially the smartest man I’ve met with this week.” Rogue sipped from a drink as she carefully eyed V again. “Revenge or not. Anders Hellman needs to be detained before leaving the city.”

“And you’re having me do that? Sounds important. Why not have a whole team on this?”

“Because it’s not important to me, and if they wanted more people on this, they should have paid me more.”

They. That was interesting. So a group then? A collective? Who needed Hellman?

“Besides. Considering the disaster that is Arasaka right now, the more people on this, the more heat it’s going to cause. One, capable man is all I need.”

“What do you mean?”

Rogue’s eyes narrowed. She looked like she was quickly rethinking her decision to have V work this. “You suddenly have me doubting you pay attention to anything that happens in this city.”

“I was off the grid for a while. Just got back in town. You happened to call right when I got home.”

“Hmph, lucky me then. In that case, I’ll be the one to break the news. Saburo Arasaka was murdered four days ago.”

“Are you fucking serious?”

“Do I strike you as the kind of woman to make such a joke?”

“No,” V slowly said. “Does this job have anything to do with that?”

“None of your concern. Your only goal is to find Hellman. I was going to say how you got him to cooperate could be done at your discretion, but if you’re not interested in revenge, that’s your prerogative. After he is secure, you’ll need to contact two numbers, and then take him to a secure location.”

“That’s it?”

“That’s it kid.”

“Why contact two numbers?”

“Because they refuse to work together despite having a goal so very similar,” chuckled Rogue. “I suggest you get out of there the moment one of them arrives. I don’t care which one, or if it’s both. Either will confirm the job was done. You’ll get your payment, and I might call on you again.”

“A simple job from the queen of the Afterlife? I feel more like the bait.”

“If you were the bait, I’d be upfront about it. Or I would do better to not raise any suspicions from you.”

Or maybe just by saying that she was trying to alleviate suspicions. If V said that, they would just keep talking themselves in circles though. V replied, “Is there a time limit on this? You mentioned him leaving the city?”

“Possibly. Within three days I would say is your shortest timeframe, but you could have more or less time. What information I could get is all in the folder. The rest is up to you.”

V finally picked it up. He flipped through some of the pages. “Paper. Very…old school.”

“That a crack at my age kid?”

“Just curious.”

“You can’t hack paper, and there isn’t a risk of someone overhearing the written word. Now, unless you have a question pertaining to the job, I need to meet with my next appointment.”

“Understood. I’ll have this taken care of in no time.”

“See that you do. Good luck V.”

V took the folder and left the Afterlife. He found a restaurant, ordered a late meal, and took a corner to sit in. He carefully looked through the information he had. Already his mind was thinking of what leads he could follow. If he needed help, he could contact River. Promise to help him with a case of his own or whatever. He’d had harder jobs, but this certainly wouldn’t be a walk in the park.

“Saburo Arasaka was…”

V looked to a nearby TV as his ears tuned in the words. Rogue had said it was a murder, but the news simply said he had passed due to unknown circumstances. The police and company hadn’t released any information on the matter. It figured Rogue would know more though. V would have kept watching, but his phone suddenly buzzed. He quickly answered when he saw that it was Kerry calling.

“Hey—”

“Ok, did you see the fucking news because holy shit! I realize we were away, but I can’t believe we didn’t hear about this sooner.”

V snorted. He didn’t have to ask what Kerry was talking about. “Yeah. That man was ancient. Over a hundred right?”

“Yeah. Survives two world wars, the rise of the corporations, manages to stay ahead of the others and create one of the most powerful companies in the world, and then he just dies? With no explanation as to why? It’s fucking weird. You’d think there would have been more fanfare around this.”

V dropped his voice. “Rogue said it was murder.”

“Seriously? I’d believe her over the news. Please don’t tell me you’re doing something involved with Arasaka.”

“Not really.”

“Not really? What exactly did you agree to V?”

“Just finding a guy who happens to work for Arasaka, getting him to some coordinates, and that’s it.”

“Seriously? Why you? You’ve got some kind of background that makes you a better choice or something?”

“Not really. The guy was one of the ones there during the heist. The one with Jackie. I think Rogue was trying to entice me with a chance at revenge.”

“And you said?”

“Not interested in that but interested in the job. She seemed to appreciate it. Overall, it shouldn’t be too complicated. Though if I actually hope to finish this successfully, I’ll need to do a lot of legwork today. I may be pretty late getting home.”

“Just wake me when you do.”

“I can do that. Anything else happen? Or were you just calling about the insane news we missed?”

“Oh yeah! That and do you want chocolate or vanilla ice cream? I’m in a sweet tooth mood.”

“Neapolitan.”

“Pfft, alright fancy pants. Neapolitan it is. I’ll see you at home.” Kerry made a kissing noise through the phone and V returned it.

“Love you.”

“You too.”

V smiled as Kerry hung up. He’d sounded better than he had this morning. It seemed the news and grocery shopping was helping to distract him. Hopefully once he got home, he would be able to focus on work after their break from vacation. Just strumming some tunes, writing out some music would hopefully keep him focused, or at least let him work through his own personal shit.

With that final thought, V turned his focus back to the job. Time to get to work.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you as always! Though I'm still not positive how many chapters I want to make this story, I think the plan will be to finish this, and then have a 3rd final story for this series focusing on Kerry and his wife and kids and V meeting them. I did want to include them somehow and I've figured doing so will work best in a story that will wrap up this series rather than in this story as it would make it too convoluted and I want to focus more on Johnny right now.
> 
> Thank you again and I hope you enjoy this extra long chapter today <3

V found some information that eventually had him contacting River. V was certain something was there, but River was the former cop. He’d probably be able to get more out of it than V. After a few texts just catching up and mentioning he was back in Night City, River promised to get onto it. With that being worked on, V took a moment to go out and reconnect with some other fixers as well. He did some errands of his own. Bought some more ammo, and then finally visited Jackie at his job.

He used the opportunity to get the bike checked out too. As Jackie looked it over, the conversation started out normal enough. How was the trip? What about you and Misty? Has Kerry finished his latest project yet? How’s Mama Welles? Have you finished unpacking? Things like that. But Jackie of course caught on that something was off. Considering Johnny Silverhand’s legendary status, it was probably best to not mention the once dead terrorist. After all, V didn’t know if the man cared if others knew he was alive or not. No reason to reveal he was alive unless Silverhand wanted to do it himself. Once Jackie was done and they’d moved to the side of the garage, V simply said, “I got a job from Rogue.”

“Maldición! Getting back into the major leagues huh?”

“You could say that. It’s nothing big though. I’m having River look up a lead for me right now. Hopefully he’ll come up with something. If not, I’m going to have to find another lead.”

“Still, congratulations! I once dreamed of working for a fixer like her.”

“Shame we got stuck with fucking black Jesus huh?”

“Eh, I can admit the shit that went down was partially our fault too. But something tells me if we’d crossed paths with the queen, we might have ended up top of the world.”

“Or buried in a trash heap.”

“What? Something smell off about it?”

“No. It seems straightforward enough. Just the shit with Arasaka has me more cautious than normal.”

“Right! Saburo getting axed. Man, I wish I could have been there to see.”

“You say that, but you probably would have ended up dead too.”

Jackie shrugged. “It’s gotta be murder. News isn’t saying it, but everyone’s thinking the same thing.”

“Well, whoever did it is either already dead or protected by someone fucking powerful.”

“Maybe even Arasaka itself.”

“That would be quite the conspiracy,” sighed V.

“How’s Kerry with all this?”

“Why do you ask?”

“Met the guy often enough now to know he’s locamente enamorado. Neither of you’ve talked about it with us, but I’m sure he worries for you as much as Misty sometimes would with me.”

“We have an understanding.”

“That’s good. Kerry’s a funny guy. I’d hate to see how he might look at your funeral.”

“Great. You’ve jinxed me,” V said with a roll of his eyes. “Besides, I know just as well that you would be right behind him saying I have no right to die.”

“God damn right,” grinned Jackie. “Let me know how this job goes. So I can be ready to come save your ass if needed.”

“I’ll make sure to,” laughed V. He pulled out his phone and saw a text from River. About six hours had passed. That was surprisingly quick. “Speaking of, got to go. But I’ll see you soon. We should all have dinner again. I think it would be good.”

“Perfecto. And you can tell us all about how it is getting a fully paid trip from your papi.”

“Please not that again!”

Jackie laughed and V could only groan and lightly kick one of his wheels.

“I’m just saying,” said Jackie. “He paid for it all didn’t he?”

“No comment.”

“Uh huh.”

“I have to go Jackie.”

“That sounds like excuses.”

“Good bye,” laughed V. He focused on re-reading what River had said and quickly responded. He went to his bike and headed to where River had wanted to meet up.

V ended up driving through Santo Domingo. He passed Kerry’s favorite place for coffee on the way. They should go there again, V thought. It would be a nice return to normal.

After getting out of the city, he pulled off the interstate and straight into a little hotel. There were signs for a bar on the second floor. The place where V was supposed to meet River. The entire building was run down and old, but in a completely different way from the places in Night City. Like how there was an extra layer of sand and dust everywhere. V recognized River’s truck in the parking lot so he headed into the bar.

River was at the counter talking to a woman V didn’t recognize. However, he noted the patches on her jacket. They seemed familiar. A nomad?

River looked back when the door opened and excitedly said, “V!” He gestured for him to sit. “This is Panam. A member of the Aldecaldos.”

“I told you I’m not with my clan anymore,” she grumbled as V sat down on River’s other side.

“And you’ve said that about a dozen times before. I’ll believe it when I hear it directly from Saul’s lips.”

She shot him a pouting face before looking over. “So you’re the merc, huh?”

“V,” he introduced himself.

“I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“Really?”

“Your friend likes to brag.”

“River!”

“What? You’re good. Besides, I had to convince Panam that it would be worth it working with you.”

V rolled his eyes. He looked back to Panam. She and River seemed to be familiar with each other so V asked, “How long have you known each other?”

“I can’t say,” Panam replied with a shrug right as River said, “We’ve worked together for a while.”

“Hey!” River exclaimed. “What would you call all those jobs if not working together?”

“Oh, is that what you think? I remember me doing all the work,” Panam responded with a slight grin.

V caught on that she was teasing him. In another situation, V might have latched onto it because it was pretty fun. If this was a normal sit down, he probably would have joined in on the teasing and would have asked, “So have you just been working together or working together?” However, he was in the middle of a job and simply asked, “What have you got on Hellman?”

“Pfft. He’s less fun than you mentioned,” Panam said.

“Hey, we’re here for a job,” River quickly said, blushing ever so slightly.

Alright, V definitely needed to remember to bother him later about this. However, he said again, “Hellman?”

“Right, turns out Kang Tao poached him from Arasaka,” River explained. “From the looks of it, he was probably planning to officially quit, but something’s spooked him.”

“You can just say the CEO’s death,” grumbled Panam. “Whole city’s talking about it anyways.”

“I haven’t found any evidence of that, but it’s certainly possible. Of course, you don’t really care why he left. Do you V?”

“Just need to know where he is and where he’s going,” he agreed. He looked to Panam. “I’m guessing that’s where you come in?”

She nodded as River said, “There’s a transportation route Kang Tao regularly takes. It’s not known though because it’s often used for doing dealings under the table. Things they want out of the media or the eyes of other companies. It’s lucky because I found it using some information from a former case I worked. It’s why I was able to get back to you so quickly.”

“And you think this will be the route Hellman will use to leave town?”

River nodded. “From what I’ve heard, Hellman is definitely still around. I’m trying to pinpoint exactly where, but I can already tell you that you’ll have more luck nabbing him out in the badlands than anywhere in the city.”

“It makes since,” V said. “They’ll be too far away to call for any immediate backup, but that doesn’t mean they’ll be easy to take down.”

“Which is where I come in,” replied Panam. “You’ll need equipment. Men. Explosives. I can provide that, but for price.”

“Wouldn’t be Night City if there wasn’t one,” sighed V. He looked to River. “And your take?”

“Hey, I’m introducing you guys for a reason. If you want, you can go your own route. I trust her though, and I can vouch that the Aldecaldos will be able to bring more than enough fire power to help you.”

V pointed a finger at Panam. “Hang on, I thought you said you weren’t a part of them anymore.”

“Urgh, it’s complicated ok? Just know I can pay you back and then some.”

“I just want to get Hellman.”

“Then I can do that. You just need to help me first. Help me, then I’ll show you the Kang Tao route afterwards and we can start forming a plan.”

V thought about it for a second. If it were anyone else bringing this to him, he might not take the deal. But he at least trusted River. He was also on a time crunch. V hadn’t heard much about the Aldecaldos, but all the stories supported they were an honorable nomadic group. He supposed that settled it. He focused on River. “As long as you can keep digging into Hellman, then I’ll help.”

“No problem,” River replied just as Panam said, “Perfect. I need help getting back my car and some goods.”

“Oh, is that all?”

“I’ll tell you the rest on the way there,” Panam replied. She downed the rest of her drink. “Come on. We should hurry before they leave.”

She was out the door before V could even react. He looked to River.

“Better get a move on.”

“What? No advice?”

“There is none I can give when it pertains to Panam,” chuckled River. “Just try not to piss her off too much.”

V rolled his eyes. “I guess I’ll try. Text me when you find anything.”

“I will. Good luck V.”

With that, V rushed out and hurried downstairs. He spotted Panam at a car. But his bike…

“Come on! I’ll drive you back obviously. Chop chop!”

Jesus she could be bossy. V walked over and got in. “Why do you need to get your car back? This one seems to work fine.”

“Seriously? It’s a hunk of junk!”

“I didn’t say it wasn’t,” snorted V. “But this is Night City. A car is a car.”

“Yeah, but this one isn’t my baby and those fuckers took her. Along with my goods. I’m going to get it all back, finish the job, and get some fucking revenge on the side too.”

“I guess I don’t have to ask if we’re going in covertly or being obvious about this.” She shot him a look. “What? Was there any chance of us going in silently?”

“Well no. But that’s besides the point,” Panam replied as she pulled onto the road. “We’re going to make a stop on the way to stock up by the way.”

“Ok. So who are we going after?”

“Nash Bane. He’s—”

“Shit! We’re seriously going after Raffen?”

“You know about Raffen Shiv?”

“Before you call me a city slicker, I’ll save you the time and just call myself that,” snorted V. “But even the most uneducated on nomads know about Raffen. At least in my profession.”

“They give us a bad name,” growled Panam. “Are you going to back out knowing what we’re going to face?”

“Hey, even if I didn’t need help capturing Hellman, I already gave you my word.”

Panam let a small sigh. “Thanks V.”

“So what detes can you give?”

“Well…” Panam turned silent. V figured it was because she was trying to get her thoughts in line. However, she kept glancing at him. She opened her mouth a couple of times. Only to suddenly stop and stare out of the corner of her eyes again.

“Ok. What is it?”

“Do I know you?”

That was what had her confused? “From River, yeah,” chuckled V.

“No. No I mean I swear I’ve seen you before.” She glanced over again.

V just shrugged.

“I’ll place you before this is over. I know I will. Anyways, their base is hold up in this cave. Used to be where the old highway went through.” Panam kept talking. Giving him expected numbers, what kind of tech and defenses to anticipate.

Eventually, they pulled off by a cluster of small homes. He followed Panam to a weapons dealer and they stocked up for the raid. The odds didn’t sound great. Two against ten. But it wasn’t impossible, and they would be the ones catching the Raffen off guard.

From the weapons dealer, they would have about a thirty minute drive left. Panam told him a few more details, though she also continued to give him those strange looks and asked more than once if he’d been to one place or another. V’s responses were pretty much all the same. Straight up no or saying probably but he couldn’t recall her.

Panam didn’t seem satisfied with his answers. Once they were coming up near the tunnel, she focused on the job at hand. “Ready?”

“As I’ll ever be,” sighed V.

“Oh come on. Put a smile on that face. This is going to be fun.”

“I’m sure it-woah!” V grabbed the car door as Panam gunned it. A little warning would have been appreciated, but he saved the snappy comments for afterwards. In the moment, he took out his gun and was diving out the door and heading towards cover the moment the car slowed to a stop.

Keep his head down. Look for anything that could be shot as an explosive. Pull out a grenade and just throw it. Give Panam cover as she moved forward. Let Panam cover him as he went in close and shot one straight through the head. Despite Panam’s rather explosive entrance, she wasn’t stupid. They even managed to work well together as they watched each other’s back and started to take down the Raffen. Though V had recognized Nash’s name, he only knew which man it was because Panam finally yelled out, “Wait! He’s mine!”

V changed tactics. He watched Panam’s back. He got the second to last Raffen and Panam finally gunned down Nash.

He waited for a second, doing a complete three-sixty to see if anyone else was around. However, Panam’s intel had been correct. Only ten. He let out a small sigh as his shoulders finally relaxed. Panam went straight to looking for her goods and trying to find the key to her car. V helped her. Once she had what she’d come for, she started double checking that the goods were all intact. V took a moment to see if there was anything he could salvage from the Raffen before finally stopping to stand by her truck.

“This is really it?”

“Hey! She’s fucking perfect,” Panam said with a small pout. “Say one more bad thing about her and I won’t drive you back.”

“I promise not to insult the lady then,” chuckled V. “It’s a good thing this was here though. The old one is riddled with holes.”

“It served its purpose. Just give me a second so I can make sure she’s all good to go.”

“Alright.” V sat down on some boxes. He pulled out his phone while he waited. There was a text from River asking if they were both safe. V responded and then looked to a text from Judy about needing to meet up again now that he was back in town. V saved responding to her though because at that exact moment Kerry texted him.

_Still alive?_

V texted back, _All good for now._

_Are you still on Rogue’s job?_

_Had to take a detour. Looks like I might need help so I just finished doing a job with a nomad in return._

_How did that go?_

_More explosive than I was expecting, but I’ve still got all my limbs._ V wanted to ask how Kerry was doing. Maybe it would be best if he didn’t do it outright though. He rested on, _Have you gotten back on the guitar?_

_A little. Sitting at the piano right now trying to figure out how I want this one section to go. I’ve already made plans with Zed to get into a recording booth within the week._

That made V smile. Kerry was working then. He wasn’t just sitting in a chair and letting his mind stew. That was good. He wished he could be there to just kiss him and hold him and show him he was proud—

“Ah ha!”

V practically jumped out of his skin. He fumbled with his phone before managing to catch it. His head swiveled left and right so fast he almost gave himself whip lash. “What!? What!?”

“I figured it out,” Panam proudly said.

“You almost gave me a heart attack.”

“You’re fine. Don’t be such a baby,” she snorted. “And now I know. You’re dating a celebrity. Aren’t you? I’m ninety percent sure I’ve seen your face in a magazine.”

“You read those trashy tabloids?”

“Stop dodging the question,” she smirked.

“Listen. I don’t-it’s not-I know I haven’t been captured in too many pictures. Kerry likes to keep his life private so what the hell gave it away?”

Panam looked very proud of herself. “I recognized the smile.”

“Rec-are you serious?” V couldn’t help how his cheeks lit up.

“You said Kerry so…right! The rockerboy! Well, that’s my curiosity satisfied.”

“You always so good at making grown men blush?” mumbled V.

“It’s a natural talent,” she shot back, the smirk still firmly on her face. “Come on. The ride is good to go.”

“I’m actually thinking about walking now.”

“Have you ever been out in the desert at night? It’s cold as shit. Just get your ass in lover boy.”

V rolled his eyes. He climbed in and looked at the inside of the vehicle.

“See? She’s preem, right?”

“Not bad. Not bad.”

“Well at least I know why you’re not so impressed now. What with the rides I’m sure you’re able to get.”

“Are you really trying to get information out of me?”

“Just curious. It’s an odd relationship and like I said, not much information in the press besides a few pictures here and there.”

“I don’t need to prove anything. And anything Kerry wants to say, he can say it in his music.”

“Fair enough.”

“Besides, I think your relationship is way more interesting.”

“What relationship?”

“Come on. River? You really can’t tell me there’s nothing there after what I saw earlier today.”

“How about this? I’ll stop asking about yours, you stop with mine. Hmm?”

“I can respect that.”

“Good. I need to drop off the goods, but then I’ll drive you down Kang Tao’s route. We can figure out what part will provide the best cover for an attack and plan for what we’ll need.”

“Sounds good,” V replied. He pulled out his phone again as Panam managed to maneuver out of the tunnel. Kerry had texted, _Any chance you’ll be able to get home sooner?_

_Not tonight sadly. But I still promise I’ll wake you when I get home._

There wasn’t an immediate response from Kerry. Hopefully he was busy writing something. When V put his phone away, Panam was looking at him from the corner of her eyes again. “What?”

“I’m not going to say anything.”

“Uh huh.”

“Scout’s honor.”

V softly laughed. His eyes turned to the desert around him. It had been a long day and night was upon them. It wasn’t over though. They first finished the deal, V making sure to have Panam’s back. She hadn’t asked for it, but seemed appreciative all the same. It then took some time before Panam was driving on the route that apparently the Kang Tao transportation would take. A good bit of it was off road. It meant a bumpy ride but plenty more places where people or explosives could hide. They drove down the path for almost a full hour before V said, “Let’s turn back. I saw a place that should work. Any farther out is going to be too far from Night City.”

“Agreed. And I think I know what spot you were thinking of.”

Panam turned around. They eventually stopped where the path went through what had once probably been a river. There were some good high places to hide snipers. Spots in the sand where explosives could definitely be hidden. They came up with everything they would need, and Panam promised to get back to him when she had all the supplies set up. She drove him all the way back to his bike where she said, “As long as it doesn’t turn out Hellman is leaving tomorrow morning, I’ll have everything in order. Just you or River contact me once you know when everything needs to be set up.”

“I will. Thanks Panam.”

“You too V. It was good working with you.”

He closed the door and headed straight to his bike. River’s truck was long gone. V appreciated the help, but he hoped River was at least getting a couple of hours of sleep tonight. V wanted to go over the information again though so instead of heading straight home, he actually stopped at the little dive in Santo Domingo.

The plan was to sit in a corner, drink a cup as he looked over his notes, and then finally go home. However, what he saw almost had him turning around and walking straight out.

The moment he thought about it for even a second, it made sense. Kerry had mentioned how this place had been where the band had gone together. Using what little money they had to eat shitty food and grab a cup of coffee. So it made sense. But still…

V stared at Johnny Silverhand as he sat at the counter. The same place where V would normally sit with Kerry. Two cups were in front of him. One was empty and being used as a makeshift ashtray. A quick glance at the workers showed that they’d probably told him he couldn’t smoke inside but were too afraid to ask a second time.

A woman bumped into V and told him to stop hogging the doorway. V looked to Silverhand again but—

No. He hadn’t turned around.

V slowly walked forward. He found a spot on the opposite side of the lobby and ordered his usual. It was late. A few people came in, but the only ones sitting down were V and Silverhand with the workers either chilling behind the counter or cleaning up. V slowly sipped from his cup as his attention split between reading his notes and looking at Silverhand.

In a way, it seemed so alien. Kerry had talked about Johnny before. A mixture of nostalgia and irritation and friendship and anger wrapped up in his head. But the only real stories V knew of the man was either the rockerboy, screaming into a mic, or the terrorist that had blown up ‘saka tower years ago. This though? This just looked like a sad, lost old man.

When Johnny finally got up, V hid his face behind a page. He waited until he heard the door open and close. V looked up again. The man was gone having left behind a half empty coffee cup and seven cigarette butts.

How odd.

With the distraction gone though, V was finally able to focus on his work. He stayed there until he was done with his own drink and finally got up to head home. He threw away his trash and went back to the bike. By the time he got to Kerry’s house, it was almost three o’clock in the morning. V went to rinse off first after being in the desert for much of the day. Only after that did he head to bed where Kerry was sound asleep.

A soft kiss. A gentle shake.

Kerry woke, sleep heavy in his voice. “Hmm. What time is it?”

“Late. Go back to bed. I just wanted to keep my promise.”

Kerry just let out a soft hum. V kissed him again before easing into bed. He put an arm around Kerry and finally allowed himself to rest for what few hours he could get.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As of right now, it looks like this story will be a bit shorter chapterwise, 10 maybe more, but I am writing longer chapters so we'll see how it balances out. I hope you enjoy this chapter and thanks as always for reading <3

V wished he could just sleep in. However, the moment Kerry started to move, V got up too. Kerry gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and asked, “Have you gotten any sleep?”

“Eh, about four hours. Maybe five.”

“Can I convince you to go back to sleep at all?”

“Nope.”

“Well at least have breakfast with me before you go?”

“I think I can do that.”

“I’ll see you downstairs in a second.”

Kerry went straight down whereas V took the time to get properly dressed and ready for the day. He grabbed his gun and put it away last before heading after Kerry. When V got to the first floor, he was surprised to see Kerry actually cooking. It wasn’t anything special. Yet the fact that he wasn’t throwing a granola bar V’s way or a piece of toast showed he wanted to try and make the most out of their time. V checked the clock. It was still early. As long as he put his phone on high in case someone called, he should be able to take a moment for himself.

“You mentioned working on something new?” asked V.

“Just playing around with some thoughts. I’ll see if anything really sticks once I’m in the studio. What about you? Yesterday sounded exciting.”

“Ha, that’s one way to put it. There’s this nomadic group, known to be about as bad as they come. Panam, the woman who’s helping me, got screwed over by them…” V kept talking. He went into detail about the entire crazy raid. The route Panam had taken him down which Kang Tao used. How they were important to his target. He only stopped when Kerry was done.

Kerry made an apologetic face as he set the plate in front of V. “Ok, be honest. How bad is it?”

V took a couple of bites. “Well you didn’t burn the sausage as much and the eggs are less rubbery.”

Kerry chuckled. “I’ll get it down eventually.”

“You know you don’t have to try and cook for me just to get me to stay longer. You could just ask.”

“Would you stay?”

“Of course. Just can’t be long. I’ve got about…ten more minutes that are all yours.”

Kerry smiled. He leaned over and kissed V. “So what did you do after your expedition in the desert?”

“Just went over the files again. Cross referenced some things with what River had sent me.” He almost thought about mentioning that he’d seen Johnny. But it wasn’t like they’d talked or anything. Besides, he didn’t want to put Kerry in a bad mood at the start of the day. Instead, he asked more about what Kerry had worked on. How Zed was since he’d talked to him. Little things like that. All the technical aspects of music V didn’t get, but he’d been trying to learn the terminology and methods as best he could. He actually managed to follow some of the things Kerry was saying, and he was glad Kerry enjoyed sharing his work as much as he did.

When V checked the time again, Kerry stopped to ask, “So what’s the plan today?”

“I’ve got a couple of locations where Hellman could be hiding. Places connected to Kang Tao. I’m going to check them out. See if I can find anything while River basically does the same in another area of the city. Ideally, one of us will just find Hellman and be able to track him. Or at the very least, we’ll be able to hear or read something that tells us when Hellman is supposed to be leaving the city.”

“Another long day is what I’m hearing.”

“Sadly. But we did just go on vacation together.”

“So? What’s the point of life if I don’t have enough time to rail my partner against some piece of furniture every morning?”

“Well we could have this morning, but you made a burnt breakfast.”

“I’ll keep that in mind tomorrow.”

V rolled his eyes. He went in for another kiss.

“If it ends up being late again, just wake me once you get home. Doesn’t matter how late.”

“I will. Have a good day.”

“You too.”

V left and went straight to the first planned building. River had discovered some evidence of the Kang Tao utilizing it. Now to see if it might be the kind of place where Hellman would be hiding until his extraction.

The day ended up being a lot of footwork. Following people. Sneaking into rooms. Checking security cameras in one while the workers were distracted. He sent a license plate to River because he thought it might turn up something. The action had been based on a stretch of the imagination.

While waiting on River, V took the time to visit Judy since he happened to be in the area. She offered up some of her leftovers as she told him about having visited Misty and Jackie at their new place. It still threw V off that they knew each other sometimes. He was glad though. It felt good that so many people he considered friends and important in his life were connected.

He had to cut the conversation short though and promised Judy he’d see her soon as River finally got back to him. Following the hunch had proved fruitful. A man working for a company that ended up being a false front for Kang Tao. It lead to V following another lead and another until he found a set of apartments. Going in made it pretty clear that it was used as a safe house of sorts. The place seemed normal enough, but anyone with a careful eye could soon see just how much fire power and security the place had.

V made sure to be extra careful.

He went through a fixer and managed to buy off the set schedules of the guards. It made moving around a great deal easier though V continued going quiet and slow.

With a bit more breaking in and sneaking around, V finally happened upon Hellman. He thought about trying to grab him then and there, but he’d probably have to knock the man out to keep him from freaking. That and there were a ton of fucking people around with even more that would come raining down on V’s head if something went wrong.

Best to just contact River and Panam with what he’d found as he tried to figure out exactly when Hellman would be leaving. Along with confirming it would be by that transportation route.

The work that involved meant getting home late changed to not at all. He made sure to text Kerry so that way he wouldn’t worry. However, for the rest of the night V continued gathering what information he could, following the right people. Eventually, he met with River and Panam early the next morning.

V started by saying, “Have we got everything we’ll need?”

“What? Doubting my abilities?” grinned Panam. “After the show I put on yesterday?”

“Hey, I’ll admit our little team up was impressive. But ten Raffen Shivs don’t even compare to a Kang Tao convoy.”

“You should be fine with all the legwork you and I did,” River replied. “And the Aldecaldos keep their promises.”

“We’re heading out in a few hours to start setting up,” agreed Panam. “You coming with?”

V nodded. “Considering how the information pointed to Hellman leaving early tomorrow morning, best to just go there and stay there.” He was lucky he had taken Rogue’s words more as gospel than a suggestion. If he had taken his time, Hellman might have disappeared.

“Have you eaten yet?” asked River.

“No. Last meal I had was lunch yesterday. And that was more stealing fries off a friend’s plate than anything.”

“Well setting up shouldn’t take all day and night,” Panam said. “Should give you some time to catch some shut eye before the assault. Myself and the others can keep watch.”

“I’ve pulled tougher nights. But thanks for the opportunity.”

“And in that case, I’ll order us some food now,” River added.

“As long as I get coffee, I’ll be good,” sighed V. “Are you going out there with us?”

“No. Not really my area of expertise,” River replied. “Besides, I put some cases on the backburner for this that I need to get back to.”

“You can call me if you ever need help on one,” V quickly said. “It does mean a lot that I can count on you.”

“It’s no problem V. Trust me. I think the same of you,” River said just before raising his hand as a waitress came by. They all ordered food as Panam gave V the specs of what she’d managed to get her hands on. Not everything was ideal or what they’d intended, but it should all work with just a little tweaking here and there.

They were in the middle of eating when V got a text from Kerry. It was just a quick hello and wishing him well since V hadn’t been able to go home. He mentioned River, and Kerry made sure V told him hi. Kerry didn’t ask if he was coming home that night. He probably just assumed the job would get in the way of that. Considering the job should be done by the midday mark tomorrow, V did double check what Kerry’s plans were. As that was the day he was supposed to be working with Zed, V asked if he could stop by the label.

It made him grin what with how excited Kerry’s response sounded.

He shot a final text of, _It’s a date then_ , before finally getting up from the table. He wished River well before going to his bike and following Panam back out into the Badlands.

The drive was a long one. Rather than a star filled sky, it was a harsh sun that beat on the back of V’s neck. He couldn’t wait for this job to be over. At the planned attack site, there were already Aldecaldos unloading equipment and setting up positions. V was introduced to most of them while he and Panam helped with the unloading.

V didn’t want to kill if they didn’t have to. Ideally, they’d be able to take them by surprise fast enough that they could knock out the ones who tried to fight, roundup the remaining ones, and tie them up. But this was Kang Tao. Even though they wouldn’t be expecting a fire fight, they’d be packing. It meant everyone that was going to be involved in this was locked and loaded too.

There were a few breaks here and there. Moments to just get out of the sun and hydrate. V managed to get the story out of Panam of how she and River had met. Apparently, it hadn’t been long after he’d gone private. One of the members from her family had tried to do business in the city and had disappeared. Even though Panam was the most familiar with the city, she’d still needed help. She’d gone from person to person until someone had recommended River. The rest was history.

When she asked how he’d met Kerry, he answered her. Seemed only fair since she’d given a small bit about her and River.

V wasn’t surprised when she burst into laughter, causing several Aldecaldos to turn to them. However, when she tried to ask something else, V simply said, “What about you? When’s the first time you met River and it wasn’t business related?”

“Touché V. Touché.”

They left it at that which was just fine as the long night in front of them really began. The information V had suggested the convoy would be coming through at around five in the morning, but they could always come earlier or later. Someone was tasked with keeping watch at all times so that they wouldn’t be caught off guard. V found a spot where he could use his jacket to curl up on and finally took a moment to sleep. It sadly felt like no time at all though before Panam was shaking him awake.

“Come on. Time for the fire fight!”

V got up. He only had time to down some water before he was flattening himself to the ground next to Panam and her rifle. She contacted someone over the walkie-talkie that was farther off than them.

“Do you see the man V described?”

“Windows are too dark. Six vehicles in total. Only one looks like it’s meant for passengers. One has a mounted gun. There’s a gunner on the back.”

“We need to take that out first,” V said.

“On it.”

Panam contacted the others. She then went to staring down her scope.

Everyone waited with bated breath. V watch as the convoy moved closer and closer. The trucks finally started to move over the hidden explosives. Just a little farther. And…

Now!

The explosives destroyed the tires and undersides of most of the trucks. Tipped one. Panam quickly shot the man behind the mounted gun and then the tires out of a vehicle not caught in the blast. V slid down into the dry ravine. With the help of the Aldecaldos, they grabbed the drivers and the guards out of each vehicle. Two people who were probably security tried to fight back. They went down quickly. The rest started to throw their hands up or quickly threw their guns to the side. It seemed their wish to live was stronger than their loyalty to their employers. The weapons were picked up. People were detained. All in all, it was an incredibly smooth operation. V went straight to the one truck that wasn’t carrying cargo. The people inside had already been pulled out. V looked from face to face until—

“Hellman?”

The man looked up, eyes wide and full of fear. V promptly wiped the look away with a quick hit to the back of the man’s neck.

“Well that’s your job done,” Panam said as she came up to his side.

“Almost. Now I need to take him to the planned coordinates,” sighed V.

“Well get going. We’ll finish taking care of this.”

“You sure?”

“You did all you needed to by helping me get back at Nash. The rest of them did this as a favor to me. You’re good to go. We’ll take care of the cleanup. Besides, we’ll get a few good bits of firepower out of this. It was worth it from the Aldecaldos’ end too.”

“Then I wish you the best of luck,” V replied. “Thanks for your help. Would have had a lot more trouble with this if it had just been me.”

“You too. Maybe we’ll cross paths again.”

“I hope so,” smiled V. He then focused on picking up Hellman and heading to where they’d hidden their vehicles. He secured Hellman on the bike. Next came contacting those two separate numbers. Then V checked the coordinates and was on his way. It took a while to get out of the Badlands, but thankfully he didn’t have to go far from there. He got some odd looks from those he passed, but this being Night City, everyone decided it wasn’t their problem. V ended up in a motel on the cusp of Pacifica and Santo Domingo. As there wasn’t any kind of room rented out by Rogue or anyone, V got one right where the coordinates landed him. It was cheap enough and the return for a job well done would more than cover it. V got Hellman inside and into a chair. He’d been slightly injured by the attack, but nothing too serious. Besides, he wasn’t a runner. At least not with a gun in his face. If the people who were supposed to come wanted to tie him up, that was on them. V just had to sit and wait.

After a few minutes had passed, he started glancing at the time. Checking to see if anyone had sent him a text back. If there was any news. Hellman started to stir. He jolted awake after a minute more. To say he was dazed and disoriented would have been an understatement. It was clear he didn’t know V. Though why would he? His part in the heist going wrong had been behind a computer and countless security systems. As far as he was concerned, they’d never met. V didn’t really care. He just promptly shut the man down when he started to grovel.

“I don’t know why you’re here. I don’t know who wants you. I don’t care,” V simply sighed. “Just stay quiet, sit there, and we won’t have a problem.”

Thankfully, Hellman did. V incessantly started tapping his foot. Where the fuck were they? Calling Rogue wasn’t part of this. There was no guarantee she would answer. Yet it might be the only—

The beginning of an argument outside had both V and Hellman turning to the door. He supposed both people had arrived at the same time then. From the way Rogue had phrased it and under the odd circumstances, V imagined the people were at odds with each other despite apparently trying to accomplish the same thing. Whatever. That was their argument to hash out. V was just going to go and—

A loud knock sounded on the door. “We’re here for the corporat!”

Oh this had to be some massive fucking joke by the universe.

Anyone else and V would have been a little more cautious, but he couldn’t help it. He got up, threw open the door, and saw none other than Johnny Silverhand right in front of him.

Silverhand actually looked a bit thrown off by the sudden confrontation too. There was a man behind him who just looked incredibly pissed and ready to get this over with. He wasn’t able to get by though as V and Silverhand remained in the doorway.

“How the fuck am I supposed to avoid you if you’re just going to keep showing up places?”

“I’m surprised you even fucking remember me,” V shot back. Considering Johnny’s words, it sounded like he might have actually seen him at the restaurant. However, V simply moved past it and said, “You don’t strike me as the kind of person who listens to anyone.”

“He doesn’t,” the man behind him said with a heavy accent.

“You, shut it. You,” a finger pointed V’s way, “know about as much about me as the fucking rat behind me does, so save your god damn opinions to yourself.”

“I know enough. I sure as shit know you don’t care about people’s privacy considering how you broke into our home.”

“Your home?”

Shit! V had let his own anger flare up. How the hell was he supposed to backpedal from that?

Silverhand’s own irritation vanished for a second. A slight huff that might have almost been a laugh escaped his lips. “Good for Ker.”

V had no idea how to respond to that. He didn’t have to as the man behind Silverhand said, “Can we please hurry? Or have you decided to quit so I can focus on my task?”

“No way in hell,” Silverhand replied as he finally shoved V to the side and walked up to Hellman. The other man simply gave V a respectful nod and went to stand by Silverhand. One looked almost casual, hip pushed out to the side. Hands on hips. The other rigid. Militaristic. Quite the odd duo.

“Were you not offered water?” asked the other man.

“N-no—”

“That is where I and the people of this city differ. I can offer you buckets.”

“T-there really is no need—”

“Now you’re talking my kind of language,” huffed Silverhand. He gestured to V to hurry up and leave.

V simply shot a glare at the side of his head as he closed the door on his way out. Of fucking course it had been him.

With a tired sigh, V just tried to remind himself that the job was over. That was what was important. He could just finally change his damn clothes, take a shower, and—

Fuck he was supposed to meet Kerry!

V let out a loud groan. By the time he got to his bike, he just slumped forward and didn’t look up. The text from Rogue declaring the job done and the transfer complete didn’t even lift his mood. How the hell was he supposed to tell Ker?

He tried to think about that. About whether he should mention it at all. It wasn’t like he’d planned this after all. As far as he’d known, Johnny wouldn’t be there, and V had already told Kerry as much. Why try to worry him when the job was done and gone? Fuck, V didn’t know. He pushed the thoughts back. Drove to his own apartment instead. He finally got the sweat and grime and sand off of his skin and changed. Then he drove to the label.

When V saw Kerry, he didn’t say anything at first. It was clear the man was enjoying himself. He showed off a demo to V. Had both of them and Zed talking and catching up for a while. V was almost thinking about not saying anything except when they finally got a moment alone, Kerry of course admitted he could tell something was wrong.

They were sitting in the recording booth. The area was empty. Zed having gone for a break along with the sound guys. V had been sitting on the ground, leaning against Kerry as he’d played something. Now the guitar was off to the side. Kerry was running his fingers through V’s hair as he asked, “Did the job end poorly?”

“What? No, no. Got it done. Panam held up her end. Rogue paid me. It’s done.”

“Then why does something feel off?”

V let out a tired sigh. “Just…don’t be mad.”

He could feel Kerry’s hand stop. Just for a second. Then he started the slow petting motions once more. “He was there.”

V didn’t even have to say who. He just said, “I didn’t know he was one of my contacts. If I had, I would have told you upfront.”

“I know,” sighed Kerry.

“And that was technically the second time I saw him. The first time we didn’t talk. I didn’t think he even saw me but he…it was at your favorite place. The one with the coffee that we always fight over if it’s the best or not. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you earlier.”

“Huh.”

“Is that all you’ve got?”

“Don’t know,” murmured Kerry. “Might leave it at huh. Might hunt him down so I can punch his face in. Might do nothing. I don’t fucking know.”

“I also accidently admitted that we were living together.” Might as well get everything out of the way.

“He say anything?”

“Just ‘good for Ker’.”

“I’m sure he looked smug as fuck or said something fucking dirty after it.”

“Not really. Just…a bit amused. Happy maybe. In a weird way?”

“Huh.”

“You seem oddly calm considering how you’ve acted in the past.”

“I think the initial shock has finally worn off. I am going to punch him if I see him again for breaking into the house though. He deserves that at least.”

V let out a small snort.

“Just…I don’t know.”

“I wish I could say something more. But I don’t have a single damn relationship I could even begin to compare to yours.”

“Unless you had Johnny as a friend, you never would be able to,” sighed Kerry. “Just…thanks for telling me.”

“Sorry I didn’t say anything sooner.”

“Eh. You were probably right not to. I would have just gotten more upset. Needed to sit on everything for a bit. Any idea if Rogue is going to set you up with another job for Johnny?”

“I don’t think so. At least I know to ask up front now.”

Kerry chuckled. “There is that. Can we just go back to ignoring that he’s alive for now? I haven’t seen you in about two whole days. I just want to finish recording and then pamper you with something stupidly expensive to eat.”

“Considering how I’ve only eaten cold fries and dirt, I’ll gladly take it.”

“It’s a date then.” Kerry’s hands dropped. His fingers going from V’s hair to slowly stroking his neck before V just pushed himself up and into Kerry’s lap. He kissed him. Lips pushing open his mouth. Tongue slipping in. His hand on the back of his neck.

“I’d say I’ll just close the door, but there is a massive window right there that shows directly into the mixing room.”

V couldn’t help but laugh as he kissed Kerry once more on the cheek.

“If you have a problem with it, you shouldn’t have taken so long on your break,” Kerry shot back at Zed, all in good fun.

“Uh huh. Move it V. We’re recording music. Not a porno.”

V playfully flipped Zed off, gave Kerry another kiss, and headed into the mixing area. All thoughts of Silverhand were pushed to the back of his mind. V just focused on having a normal rest of his day.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a real long chapter so it'll probably be a bit before I manage to get the next one out. Still, didn't want to break up this chapter any so you just get an extra special/long chapter haha. Enjoy <3

For almost a full week, V didn’t have to think of Johnny Silverhand. Rogue contacted him once, but it was actually a job related to Nancy’s son. In a roundabout way, it kind of related to Johnny with some old recordings of Samurai having been taken along with the son’s car. However, it was otherwise a simple enough gig. For the most part, V got to go home every night. He used his own apartment twice. Once just because it was close and V had just wanted to get clean as quickly as possible. Another time, he and Kerry had slept there. Mainly because it had meant going to bed sooner. Though V also suspected Kerry liked just how different and away it was from his usual life. How they could wake up together and watch a movie or lounge on the couch and have just about everything in arm’s reach. They visited Jackie and Misty. Saw Mama Welles. Had lunch with Judy. All the while Kerry worked and wrote and V did jobs here and there.

When Johnny Silverhand did finally enter V’s life again, it wasn’t in the way V expected. V got called from a fixer in Japantown. At first, it seemed simple enough. Some reconnaissance. Download a virus into a computer. That was it. But then the fixer mentioned it was Arasaka Industry Park that he was supposed to be going too. Second, the client wanted to go with him. It felt off. V actually told the fixer, no thanks.

But rather than saying she’d get someone else, she simply said, “Contact me when you’re interested again. I know you will be.”

V told himself he wouldn’t.

Yet those words came playing in V’s head. He was interested. His curiosity kept growing. He told himself he would delta out of there the moment things seemed to be unsalvageable. Yet who and why the hell would someone want inside that place? What was their goal? The payment V would get also wasn’t great, but if anything that was more a comfort. It meant it probably wouldn’t be that risky. Just in and out. V just had to indulge whatever dumbass wanted to mess with Arasaka. That was it.

He told Kerry first so that way he knew plans would have to change for their evening. So that Kerry would know where he was. Then V called the fixer back.

V was told where to meet the client. It wasn’t anywhere near the Industry Park. It was actually in Japantown. V took an elevator to the walkways and streets above. He was supposed to sit down and wait. The client would approach him. Instead, he saw someone and simply knew it had to be him. V approached him instead.

“It’s you,” V said as he leaned up against the railing. “You were with Silverhand.”

“And you knew him,” the man replied. He straightened up. His eyes carefully traveled over V. It was clear he didn’t trust him. It almost looked like he was about to back out simply because of the superficial relationship between V and Silverhand.

V said, “Only ran into him a few times before. Is this job related to him?”

“No. We have parted ways. Finally,” muttered the man.

“Well that clears my conscious. What’s your name?”

The man seemed to mull over V’s words. Ironically, knowing V didn’t consider Silverhand a friend or anything seemed to ease the man. “Takemura.”

“So exactly what axe do you have to grind against Arasaka? First, you’re there to pick up one of their employees. Now you want to break into their property.”

“It is no concern. I am simply not familiar with this city. I need you to break into security here. To test this.” Takemura held out a small drive. “Then we go to the real place.”

“This the virus?”

Takemura nodded. “It should allow me access to security in this area.”

“What exactly are you planning?” asked V again.

“Only my own task. Once the terminal at Industry Park is hacked, your part will be done.”

“Fine by me,” V replied. “So where are we going right now?”

“Down here. We will test it. Then go.”

V followed Takemura. They walked over the bridge and over to the side. Takemura gestured. “The security system is through there. I will watch your back. Make sure no one comes near.”

“Alright.” V let out a small sigh. “You realize I’m taking a risk. Right? I don’t know you and I usually don’t like having clients along for the ride.”

“Whatever risk you take, it will not compare to the risk I am about to take.”

V wasn’t sure about that. However, he could tell that Takemura believed in his own words. If it was true or not, it was hard to tell. V just let out a small sigh and nodded. He made another sweep of the area. Made sure no one of importance was heading their way. Only then did V walk over.

There was no way to get in through the front door. A quick look through showed no one inside, but he didn’t have authorization. However, V carefully surveyed the rest of the area. It looked like there might be another way in through the ventilation system. He climbed up and carefully started to search out of the line of sight from the people below. He found a weak point. Forced open the vent and crawled through. He dropped down into a maintenance area and then slid down a ladder. He moved around the room. Checking for any signs of movement. Any cameras. There was one that V carefully moved around until he was under the line of sight. Now, did he have anything on him that could…perfect!

He pulled out a piece of gum, got it good and malleable, and popped it over the lens. Then he finally went to the terminal and went to work. He downloaded the hack. Double checked everything. Access was granted and V went out the way he’d come. He made sure to grab that gum and wipe off the lens before he was out on the street again. He tossed it off in a trashcan as he walked over.

“Is it done?”

“Done and done. The hack works.”

“Good. Then we must go.”

At least he seemed to want this job to go as quickly and smoothly as possible. Takemura’s steps did falter as a screen by a food vendor played an upbeat jingle though. It went to breaking news of Yorinobu Arasaka speaking about his late father and some celebration coming up for him. V watched as Takemura’s frown deepened. His pace became just a little faster. His steps a little heavier. Well someone sure as shit didn’t like the new CEO of Arasaka.

V took his own bike. It made sense as they ideally would be parting ways after this and there was no point in forcing Takemura to drive him back. Besides, it allowed V to lead the way as he knew the ins and outs of Night City’s streets better. Once the complex was in view though, V slowed and allowed Takemura to overtake him as Takemura chose where they would park. It ended up being a nearby construction site. No one was around and V quickly followed Takemura.

“We shall do reconnaissance here,” Takemura said. “Then wait for night to fall.”

“Fine by me.” V followed him up to the top of the unfinished structure. They went straight to work as they surveyed the comings and goings of the guards. Noted different ways to enter. Security. The vans that routinely came and left the complex. It was a fair amount of work and Takemura seemed determined to not let a single thing go unnoticed.

As they talked possible distractions, V said, “So you’ll stay out here. Nice and safe. And I’ll risk my life, huh?”

“I repeat,” Takemura said, irritation clear in his voice, “your task is trivial when compared to mine.”

“What the hell did Arasaka do to you man? You planning on being the next Johnny Silverhand? That why you were working with—”

“I will not be compared to terrorist.”

“Jesus, fine. You are working with him though.”

“I was. The circumstances were not my making. The fixer’s stipulations were we to work together or gain no help. I believe she wished us both to fail.”

“It’s Rogue. Maybe. Maybe she was just curious if Silverhand would listen to her.”

“I do not care. She has done her part. But you. You call me terrorist. Yet you are familiar with this man.”

“Hang on. I would hardly call it that. My partner was a part of his band back in the day. That was it. All I’ve ever known about Silverhand is what they’ve said about him in the past, plus the fact that he fucking broke into our home and made himself fucking comfortable while we were away.”

“Hmm.”

“I’m serious. But if you’re not doing this out of a sense of anarchist ideals, then what the hell? Did Arasaka suddenly terminate a branch without warning and you were one of the employees that got cut? Want to say fuck you to a former employer?”

“You do not know how irritatingly accurate that is. Even if not technically correct.”

“So this is about Yorinobu Arasaka.”

Takemura gave him a sharp look.

“Listen. We’re going to be here for a while. We can just sit in silence, but I’ll be honest, I’m going to get bored. Besides, I saw how you looked at him when he showed up on that TV. There’s clearly no love left there.”

“None,” agreed Takemura. “Why are you so interested?”

“Because I crossed paths with Arasaka once, and I’ve been pretty determined to never do it again. I nearly lost everything. So I’m sorry, but talking to someone who acts like he’s on a suicide mission against Arasaka has me interested. The only reason why I would ever go back is if I was dying and they had the holy grail-even then I might say fuck that-or if it was to avenge someone I cared about. So which is it for you?” V had meant the question more sarcastically than anything. However, as he watched, he realized he had spoken some kind of truth. He quickly said, “Ok, because I don’t want to think that any company has the power of the holy grail at their disposal, I’m going to guess this has to do with good old-fashioned vengeance. Huh?”

Takemura sighed. With the exhale, it seemed like the entire weight of the world just fell upon his shoulders. “It is not Arasaka. It is Yorinobu I have a vendetta with.”

V frowned. So then this was somehow personal— It was a guess, but the words suddenly clicked into place. “Did he kill his father?”

“Yes.”

“Holy shit!” Seemed like Jackie had been fucking right. “But what were you to Saburo?”

“I was his bodyguard.”

“Well you royally fucked that up.”

Takemura let out another tired, pained sigh. “Yes. I did.”

“So what does this job have to do with him? Why not sneak into Arasaka and just kill him now?”

“I wish to speak with Hanako-sama. I will use the parade as a distraction.”

“The sister? What? Going to try and bring it forward? Prove it? Get your justice?”

“It is the honorable action. If only she listens, she can do the right thing.”

V greatly disagreed with that. He had no idea what the Arasaka family was like, but no way in hell did being one of the most powerful families in the world not affect the psyche in some way. The right thing? No. Whatever would get done would be because the Arasaka willed it. Whether that actually aligned with Takemura’s goal would be inconsequential. It wasn’t V’s job to try and convince Takemura though. His job was just to stand here, wait, and then go in and upload the virus. That was it.

Because of that, he dropped the topic and simply asked, “So I’m guessing Hellman was involved or saw something or has some dirt on Yorinobu or whatever. Which explains why he would run and explains why you wanted him. Any idea why Silverhand wanted him?”

“There is man named Grayson he wishes to find. That is all I bothered to take note of. Does this name mean anything to you?”

V shook his head. “No. Was just curious if you knew why. The man is actually a living legend now, considering he’s come back from the grave. Despite how I hate the way he disrupted parts of my life, it’s hard not to be curious why he’d come back now.”

“I suppose. I have had much on mind. Too much to be distracted by such a man.”

“Fair enough. So what now? We going to order pizza or something while we wait?”

“The food here is disgusting. If I were to be granted one wish, it would be to not taste it again.”

V couldn’t help but laugh. Maybe even a little harder at Takemura’s glare. “Are all corpos this damn picky?”

“I am not what you would call a corpo. I was simply Saburo-sama’s bodyguard. And I know what good food tastes like.”

V laughed again, but found himself actually continuing the conversation as they waited for night to fall. It was interesting as the man seemed extremely reserved. However, it was obvious he’d had no one to talk to. To rant to. To just complain to. V didn’t mind. The man was incredibly interesting and it kept the evening from becoming a bore. V found himself feeling a little bad for him too. He could care less about Saburo Arasaka, but to be the one person trying to reveal a truth as the rest of the word just didn’t seem to care or happily ate up the lie from the killer himself? That had to hurt.

When night finally fell, V and Takemura left the view. They parted ways and V headed in. Hopefully, it would be a quite in and out affair. However, Takemura was supposed to be at the ready to draw attention away if needed.

V went through the route that looked most promising. He snuck in. Hid behind crates and structures as guards passed by. Dodged cameras. He knocked out one man. Got a little farther, and finally uploaded the virus to the correct terminal.

He and Takemura had exchanged contact information so once V was out, he was able to text him, _Done. And all it cost was an unwelcomed headache for a guard._

_Excellent. I will confirm with the fixer that it is done. You will receive payment soon._

V almost left it at that. The job was done, and he was getting paid. However, he paused and quickly responded with, _Good luck._

It took about a minute before Takemura sent back, _Thank you._

V honestly wished the man the best, though he doubted such a goal would end well for anyone involved. With the job done, V went home and had a late dinner with Kerry. He mentioned Takemura, asked if he’d mentioned him last time. Kerry said he’d only said someone was with Johnny. Not who. V explained a bit more about the job and Kerry let out a large laugh when he realized Takemura had worked for Arasaka.

“Rogue did that on purpose. I’d bet everything that she thought Johnny would leave her alone if she made him actually work with Arasaka.”

“So whatever he’s doing, at least he thinks it’s important enough to work with a man he would normally hate on sight.”

“I guess. Actually, that’s a little terrifying. Last time Johnny was this determined, he set off a bomb,” sighed Kerry.

“Well, Takemura couldn’t say anything else. It seems they’ve parted ways.”

“I’d say for the best, but I have a feeling they’re both on suicide runs.”

V agreed and they left it at that. Only for Rogue to text V that he needed to be at the Afterlife tomorrow.

“I swear to god,” muttered Kerry, “if this is some kind of omen.”

“Only one way to find out. Guess we should get to bed. I have to get up early now.”

V joined Kerry in bed. A simple moment followed by another a day that could hold any number of requests. Rogue had simply called about Nancy’s son. This would likely be more complicated then.

He drove straight to the Afterlife and was let in without questions this time. He walked over to Rogue and she waved the people around her off except for a few that just scooted over.

“Sit. This shouldn’t take long.”

V did, but he started off by saying, “Does this have anything to do with Silverhand? Because you didn’t warn me about that last time.”

Rogue’s eyes narrowed. She looked to the other people around her, including the guard at her booth. “Leave.” Everyone quickly did. Rogue focused on V again. “You’re young kid. What the hell do you know about Johnny?”

“Considering you pride yourself with knowing most everything that happens in this city, I think you can figure it out.”

“Cheeky, kid.” Rogue sounded like she didn’t know whether to be impressed or call V an idiot. After a second, she slowly nodded her head. “Right. You’re dating Kerry. So then I guess Johnny did break into Kerry’s home.”

“Hang on. You knew about that?”

“In my defense, I didn’t think he’d figure out where Kerry lived.”

V crossed his arms and couldn’t help but be a little irritated by how amused Rogue looked. “I don’t want anything to do with him.”

“Tough luck kid because he needs someone to watch his back as he goes into Maelstrom territory.”

“No way. You go if you’re so worried about him.”

“This is a job. If you have any sense, you’ll take it.”

“Then tell me what the hell he’s trying to plan.”

“I don’t know, and I don’t care.”

“I don’t believe you.”

Rogue narrowed her eyes again. “I don’t want anything to do with the man. However, as clearly my previous stipulations didn’t dissuade him or that other moron, clearly nothing will stop him right now.”

“So what? You’re sending in some poor sap to take the fall should things go sideways?”

“Your words. Not mine.”

“I can’t take this.”

Rogue looked like she was going to argue back. Maybe tell V off. Instead, her shoulders dropped. It was only the two of them and she let out a small sigh. “You’ve done dealings with Maelstrom before. I know you have. Sure, I can get people just as capable as you, but you know the area. You’ve fought the gang before. You already know how they operate. How to get in. And you strike me as the kind of man that doesn’t bend under pressure. I need someone by tonight. I need you.”

It was really, really hard to not say, “Holy shit,” out loud. V got a hold of the initial feeling her words evoked and quickly said, “That’s a good attempt at manipulation. Like really good but—”

“No manipulation kid. I’m coming to you straight.”

“If this is that important, why not force me in some way then? Say that you’ll ghost me. Make it so I’ll never work in this city again if I don’t agree.”

“Because I will not force someone to work with Johnny, but neither am I letting up that you are my best bet in a short moment’s notice.”

V could only stare. He wanted to say no again, but something felt off. So very off. He finally said, “I need to call someone.”

“I’ll be waiting right here.”

V left her booth and headed outside. He walked away from the small groups near the door as he called Kerry. V didn’t even bother with a hello. He just asked, “Were Rogue and Johnny ever involved?”

“Well yeah actually-shit. So this is all about Johnny again. Should have fucking known.”

“Yeah. I just…I’m trying to get a read on the situation. She seems desperate.”

“Rogue seems desperate?”

“I realize how insane that sounds,” sighed V, “but she wants me to basically watch the man’s back while he does something in Maelstrom territory. She won’t tell me fucking what though. Claims she has no idea what his real goal is, but I don’t believe that. It’s insane. Right?” V waited. He expected Kerry to agree. To be his guidance in this. V should just say no. Not risk it. Kerry wouldn’t want him to risk it. V would just say no and back off. He was basically just waiting for Kerry to agree.

Instead, Kerry asked again, “Rogue’s desperate?”

“I already said that.”

“I know. Just…it’s up to you V.”

“Up to me? What the hell happened to you don’t want me anywhere near him?”

“I don’t-I mean-I just-we should probably talk about this,” sighed Kerry.

“Do you even know what you’d say?”

“Sometimes, I think you know me too well. Because no. I was speaking out of my ass. I don’t know how to explain any of it.”

“Then what should I do? Go back in there and take the job?”

“I don’t know. Only that it’s ultimately your choice. Just if you do, tell me where you’re headed and how long you’ll probably be gone.”

“Of course,” murmured V.

“Was that it?”

“Basically.”

“I’m sorry I can’t-I don’t know why I can’t just tell you to say fuck it and come home.”

“It’s ok. I’ll text you when I make my decision.”

“Ok. Thanks. Stay safe.”

And like that, Kerry just ended the call. V stayed outside. He just stared at the ground as he tried to get a read on the situation. Despite Kerry’s explosive temper, he actually still cared. He’d sounded almost fucking scared for Johnny when V had mentioned that Rogue of all people seemed worried too. Even Rogue’s own demeanor, despite acting like she gave a shit about Johnny, had changed so quickly when V had almost backed out.

God, what was V supposed to do?

He stood there a while longer before he finally headed back inside the Afterlife. Rogue was in the middle of a conversation, but she immediately stopped and had the people leave as V came near.

“So?”

“Let’s say I believe you when you say you don’t know his goal. Fine. But what the hell does this job entail? You have to know that.”

“Johnny is searching for a man named Grayson. He should be there tonight. Johnny just needs help getting in, ideally undetected, so he can question the man. That’s it.”

“Somehow, I doubt that with a man like Silverhand.”

“You’re not wrong, but that’s all you need to know for this job. All you’ll need to do.”

V thought about it for a second more. “Say you do, miraculously, learn about what Silverhand is actually doing. What his final goal is. I don’t care how much you’re willing to pay. I do this job for you and that’s it as far as my involvement with Johnny goes. I’ll never take another fucking job from you again if I have to. But I’ve heard what Silverhand is capable of leaving in his wake. I’m not willing to risk all that ever again.”

“I can’t argue with that,” replied Rogue. “Thank you.”

The way she said it. It sounded so fucking earnest. V almost slapped himself just to make sure he was still awake.

“You’ll need to meet him at about nine o’clock tonight. I’ll send you the exact address once I know it.”

“No intel on exactly what we’re going to have to sneak past?”

“That’s for Johnny to divulge once you get there.”

“Great,” sighed V. “That it?”

“That’s it.”

“Fine. I’ll contact you when it’s done.”

Rogue simply nodded, basically signaling V was good to go.

The first thing he did was text Kerry back. He half expected Kerry to say never mind. To get out now. To say fuck it. Instead, after V finished with _, I probably won’t be home until early in the morning_ , Kerry just sent back one word.

_Ok._

Kerry wasn’t fully explaining something. But V didn’t see it as malicious in any way. He guessed that Kerry just didn’t know how to explain it. Wasn’t processing it. So instead of staying angry and resolute, he’d just left it at ok. V was kind of tempted to back out of the job simply because he didn’t trust Silverhand. However, the fact that Kerry hadn’t said no made V wonder if Kerry had wanted V to go with Johnny. If his and Rogue’s worry really was tied to their former relationships with the man and the fact that they still cared.

V decided he truly would go through with the job. Not for the money. Not even for his own curiosity. Just for Kerry. There was a reason he hadn’t said no so V would go and hopefully the next time he saw Kerry, he would be able to explain his emotions better.

The rest of the day was spent prepping for the night, along with finishing a small side job that hadn’t been too urgent. He’d thought about visiting Kerry, but he knew he was working. No reason to distract him now, especially considering how he’d sounded on the phone. He wasn’t ready for a conversation, but he would have felt obligated to say something if V just showed up. Instead, V focused on the task at hand, even putting out his own feelers to see if there was anything worryingly of note going on with the Maelstrom gang.

He ended up not hearing anything though as eventually Rogue texted him the address.

V drove there, getting to the location just before nine o’clock. The busy streets were emptier at night, especially in gang related territory. He parked his bike and waited. The time moved from nine to five minutes past to ten minutes past to—

It was getting close to nine forty-five. Any longer and V was going to say fuck it because this was damn ridiculous. He’d much rather be in bed with Kerry right now anyways. To hell with this and Rogue. He wasn’t going to wait here all night for the fucking terrorist.

By the time V had come to this conclusion though, of course Johnny Silverhand showed up.

“Where the fuck is Rogue?”

“She sent me.”

“Fuck. Should have known,” growled Silverhand. He looked back to V. “And you agreed? Clearly you’re not surprised to see me. What the hell does Kerry have to say about it?”

“None of your concern. I’m here for a job. We go in. We leave. That’s it.”

“Fucking fine I guess.” Silverhand started to walk off.

“Hey? How many people are we looking at? Where’s the guy supposed to be? Silverhand!”

V angrily walked behind the man as he seemed content on ignoring him.

“At least say where the hell we’re going!”

“God, this would be so much fucking easier if Rogue had just come. We need to get on the Ebunike. It’s a ship. That’s where he’s supposed to be and then we’re fucking golden. Ok? Or better yet, you can fuck right off and I’ll do this myself since clearly Rogue isn’t interested.”

“I already agreed to this. Besides, if we need to get to a ship, better to go this way. Maelstrom tend not to guard the entrance as much.” V started to head that way. If Silverhand didn’t follow him, then fuck it. He’d say he tried to Rogue and leave it at that. He almost kind of wish the man would just give up or refuse to listen to him. It would have made this easier. Instead, a glance back showed that Silverhand was right behind V.

“You even know how to use that kid?” he said in reference to V’s gun.

“Better than you.”

“Fucking doubtful, but you got balls. I’ll give you that.”

V just let out a small huff. Neither talked as they finally came upon the territory. V looked around and said, “That the ship?”

“Yep.” Silverhand got up. He was clearly ready to go in just guns blazing.

V was quick to hold him back though and said, “Security camera there and there. We go this way, then we can still keep it fucking quiet.”

Silverhand let out another irritate noise but didn’t argue again. V led the way for a bit. He felt a hell of a lot more comfortable choosing how they approached this situation. However, Silverhand quickly took front and they were too deep into enemy territory to openly argue about it. V stuck close despite how tempting it was to bail on his ass. However, it looked like they might be in the clear. The job would be a smooth one as they made it onto the ship without issue.

Right up until someone caught sight of them.

If V had been closer, he would have grabbed the man. Tackled him to the ground. Tried to minimize the noise. Instead, Johnny just fired.

“What the fuck! You’re going to bring them all down on our fucking heads!” yelled V. He wasn’t able to yell at Johnny any more as Maelstrom started to move their way. V steadied his aim and fired again and again. Diving around cover, constantly moving and shifting so they couldn’t gang up on him. And then—

“I know that sound!”

“What? Fucking bullets!”

“No. That son of a bitch has my gun!”

An all new fire seemed to enter the older man’s bloodstream as he singlehandedly started to push the rest of the Maelstrom back. Seeing him like this, V could actually see the much younger man who had stormed Arasaka all those years ago. Soon, V was running after Silverhand as most of the Maelstrom were either dead or had scattered. They ran to the bow of the ship where one man had been injured but wasn’t dead yet.

Silverhand quickly picked up a gun. Apparently his own, and said, “Where the fuck is he, Grayson? Where!?”

V frowned at the question. He already hadn’t liked it that apparently he’d taken Rogue’s place without Rogue explaining why. Now this? “Hang on! I thought we came here for Grayson.”

“Pfft, no. Capping this fucker’s ass is just supposed to be the icing on the cake. Now where the hell is he?”

The man coughed blood. It was hard to tell how serious his wounds were, but he managed to get out, “Long gone Silverhand. Though it’s a shame. I’m sure Adam Smasher can’t wait to kill you again. This time I’m sure he won’t fuck up either.”

V’s blood went cold. Silverhand and Grayson were still talking, but V couldn’t hear them. He’d been told this job was just to help Silverhand detain Grayson. But Smasher had been the one who was supposed to fucking be here!?! V had only seen the man up close once. During the Arasaka heist. Never again had he wanted to be near him and he was supposed to believe he had almost crossed paths this very fucking night!?!

V suddenly turned his gun on Silverhand. Grayson whistled. “Trouble in-fuck!”

Silverhand hadn’t even bothered to let him finish. He’d simply shot him in the foot, leading the already injured man to cry out in pain. Silverhand didn’t even blink at the gun pointed his way. “What kid?”

“Smasher is not what I fucking signed up for!”

“Well lucky for you, he apparently isn’t here.”

“No! I did not agree to this! Smasher is a whole other thing entirely!”

“So? It’s not like I said this wasn’t about Smasher. In fact, you didn’t fucking ask at all.”

“Because Rogue said this was just about Grayson!”

A range of emotions passed over Silverhand’s face. Surprise. Anger. Pity. Acceptance. A tired sigh escaped his lips. “Then that’s on Rogue. Not me. The whole fucking plan was to take that piece of shit down here and now. For us finally to be done with him. Seems like I have a whole other fucking goose chase to go on though.”

Anger ran hot through V’s veins. He lowered his gun. For a second, he wasn’t sure what to do until Silverhand added, “You want to go chew Rogue out? I can’t even fucking argue. Shitty thing she did, though I get why. Grayson is all fucking mine though and the rest of the gang seems to be gone, so your job’s fucking done. I’m perfectly happy dealing with this piece of shit on my own.”

“Fine by me,” growled out V.

He finally put his gun away and walked off. Away from the blood. The destruction. The fucking lies.

Once V was sure he was out of the general area and almost to his bike did he called Rogue.

He didn’t let her get in a word before he was yelling, “You fucking lied! You said it was Grayson he was after! You didn’t say shit about Smasher and don’t try to fucking lie again because apparently, you were supposed to meet Silverhand here all along!”

Silence for a moment and then, “So Smasher’s still alive.”

“He wasn’t even here. Thank god because I probably wouldn’t be talking to you if he had been!”

“Is Johnny alright?”

“Fuck him! He’s fine. But you? I trusted you! I risked my neck for you! And don’t tell me this is just a normal danger of the job because we both know Smasher is a whole other league!”

“I know.”

“Stop fucking agreeing with me like you’re sorry or some shit!”

“I am sorry V.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“And you have every right not to,” sighed Rogue. “I’ll pay you more than enough to cover this.”

“Nothing you could ever pay me would be enough to cover this,” growled out V. He opened his mouth again, then bit back the words. Best not to say something that he might later regret. Even with everything considered, he was still talking to Rogue, queen of the Afterlife. The number one fixer. V got to his bike. “You ever pull this shit with me again, and it’s your head I’m coming after. That’s not a threat. That’s a fucking promise. Never. Lie. To me. Again.”

“Understood.”

And like that, the call abruptly ended.

Fuck.

Fuck!

With no one right there to yell at anymore, V could admit that as the anger faded, the true emotion he’d felt was left behind.

Fear.

He could have crossed paths with Adam Smasher. He would have been so fucking underprepared. Just a fucking pistol at his side? Shit! It would have been a god damn blood bath.

V shivered as he started his bike and quickly drove away from the area, moving so fast like if he stayed a second longer, Smasher might appear. He needed to tell Kerry about this. He wasn’t sure if the anger would come back. If V would just start yelling again and wouldn’t stop until his throat was raw. Or if the weight of the situation would hit him again and he’d just collapse against Kerry, thankful that the morning hadn’t been the last time they would have been able to hold each other.

Even driving didn’t calm his nerves and he had no idea how he was going to act when he got home. However, his mind finally stopped going in panicked loops when he got there and noted the lights were all on. It was past one in the morning. Kerry could be a bit of a night owl if he got hyper focused on something. Was that why he was still up?

V walked in and immediately called out to him, but when he didn’t get an answer, V’s confusion grew. As he walked around, he didn’t hear music. Didn’t hear Kerry playing something or perhaps a TV going. Where—

Water was running. The shower then? V went over, planning to just peak his head in as he said, “Kerry-shit Kerry! Are you trying to catch another cold again?”

V rushed forward. He turned off the water and looked down. Kerry was soaked. Still fully clothed as he sat in the corner of the shower. When he looked up, it revealed that his eyes were completely bloodshot. His voice sounded so fucking broken, like he’d been crying for hours as he gasped out, “I’m so fucking sorry,” before grabbing V and just pulling him down into a hug.

For a moment, V just let himself be held as he felt the water soak into his own clothes. He was so confused. At least until Kerry’s shoulders started shaking and the words spilled out of his lips.

“I don’t know why I couldn’t say no. I just couldn’t say no and you said Rogue was desperate which had to mean Johnny was about to pull some dumb fucking shit and I couldn’t help but be so fucking selfish and I couldn’t say no because what kind of cruel fate would it be for Johnny to just fucking die for no fucking reason so I didn’t say no and I didn’t say no and you went and then it felt like I’d chosen Johnny over you and I kept thinking that if you died because I hadn’t said no and I’d lost you because of him and I lost the one because I couldn’t let go of Johnny and I couldn’t-couldn’t—”

And finally the stream of words broke into sobs again as Kerry buried his face against V’s shoulder and V just held him all the tighter. Not all of Kerry’s reasoning was logical, but that didn’t matter right now. What mattered was what Kerry felt like he’d done. The guilt that he was feeling. The fear he’d felt.

V would tell him about what had happened. He’d tell him about the lie and about what Silverhand was after and Smasher.

But not now.

If V admitted to how close he might have come to dying tonight, it would just break Kerry even more, and V already hated seeing him like this. No way would he give Kerry another reason to put more unwarranted blame on himself and cry harder. Instead, V just stayed silent and held on as tightly as he could as they sat curled up together on the wet tile in the middle of the night.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp the apartment flooded but I already had this chapter mostly finished so here ya go. Don't know when I'll be able to start writing again though cause of everything, sorry guys. Hope you enjoy <3

V and Kerry didn’t talk in the morning.

Not about the night before at least. They did normal things, albeit quieter. Ate together. Got dressed. V was the one who actually broached the mutual silence. They were sat together on the couch. Kerry had his arm around V’s shoulders. He hadn’t really stopped holding him tight. Through the night. All morning. It was easy for V to feel how Kerry tensed when he said, “You don’t hate him.”

“I do.”

“But there’s a lot more emotions wrapped up with Johnny Silverhand than just that.”

Kerry closed his eyes. He let out a long, tired sigh. “I…still care about him.” It sounded like Kerry was finally admitting that to himself. “I care about him, but I chose wrong. I know I chose wrong, and I’m sorry. I’ll do whatever I can to make it up to you. If you never forgive me, I will spend the rest of my life trying to—”

“Hey, don’t think like that. I get it. As much of a bastard as he acts, he was your friend. Is. Maybe. I guess you still see him as a friend.” V was only guessing here. “And as far as I’m concerned, there’s nothing to forgive.”

Kerry shook his head. “I should have called you. I should have told you to just back out. I almost did so many times but then I just got it stuck in my head this horrible image of my text or call being the one thing distracting you and then you just…you never coming home.”

“Well, lucky for both of us, Silverhand didn’t get what he wanted.”

Kerry tensed again. Fear flashed across his face. “What does that mean? V?”

“Rogue didn’t exactly explain everything. I can’t even be mad at Silverhand because he didn’t know she’d done that. Basically, the guy who had supposedly killed Silverhand all those years ago, Adam Smasher, he was supposed to be there. Silverhand was out to get revenge. Could be more to it, but from what I’ve heard, that’s mainly why he’s back. Luckily, all we got were some Maelstrom and a guy named Grayson. He seemed like a real piece of work but we got it handled with Smasher being out of—”

Kerry’s eyes had gone wide before he suddenly interrupted V. “Give me your phone.”

“What for—”

“Please.”

V slowly did, only for Kerry to snatch it out of V’s hand as he stood up and started pacing. He called a number and before V could even ask who it was, Kerry was shouting into it.

“I can’t believe you fucking did that! Who the hell do you think it is Rogue? It’s me. Obviously! What bullshit game are you and Johnny playing at?!”

V couldn’t help but blink in shock. Despite his own tirade with Rogue, he’d pulled it back eventually. There was only so much he was willing to say to the queen of the Afterlife. But Kerry? Jesus, there was no hesitance there. V could only hear half the conversation and considering how many expletives Kerry was using, it was hard to say if there even was a conversation going on or just a string of curses back and forth. It ended with Kerry going, “Fuck you,” before hanging up and looking like he was about to chuck the phone across the room.

Thankfully, he paused just before doing it and quickly said, “Right, not my phone. Sorry V,” and handed it back.

Kerry collapsed next to V. He still looked irate, but he slowly breathed out and forced his shoulders to relax. Then he said something that now had V looking completely shocked. “Jesus. She’s terrified.”

“You mean to tell me you two actually said more than fuck you over and over again?”

“Something like that.”

“Also, Rogue doesn’t get terrified.”

“She’s still human,” Kerry replied. “Now, I still don’t know how the hell Johnny survived, but considering how Smasher has been touting for years that he was the one to take him down, I would assume there was still a fight between them. Maybe Rogue saw it. Was there. Maybe she just heard about it secondhand. Saw the aftermath. It doesn’t matter. What she did to you was still a fucking shitty thing to do, but I could hear it in her voice. She’s scared.”

“If she is, why did she lie to Silverhand too? Why did she say she would meet him there? Because according to Silverhand, he was expecting her.”

“Maybe she didn’t lie,” murmured Kerry. “It’s hard to tell Johnny no. The only person whoever perfected that technique would be Nancy, and even she fucked up every once in a while.”

V let out an unexpected snort at that.

“But she probably intended to go and just…I don’t know. I don’t think she sent you in thinking you would die. She sent you because she thought you could watch Johnny’s back. Keep him from getting axed.”

“But she also knew I wouldn’t have said yes if I’d known Smasher was supposed to be there.”

“Exactly,” sighed Kerry as he threw his arm around V and pulled him in close again.

“Which is why you couldn’t say no.”

“V…”

“Because if Rogue was fucking worried then you were certain somebody needed to look after Silverhand. You don’t want him to die either.”

Kerry let out another long sigh. He didn’t actually look at V but leaned his head against him. “You know, me and Johnny could probably scream each other in circles about matters like Arasaka, corporations, state of the world, right course of action. Scream until we couldn’t fucking sing for a week.”

“You make it sound like you’ve already done that.”

“Heh. Something like that. But the fact of the matter is, when I thought he was dead, his death was pointless to me. It was so fucking pointless when he could have done so much more with his life. V…I have a rather selfish request again.”

“What?”

“If you ever run into Johnny again. If Rogue ever mentions him. Run the other fucking way. Don’t tell me. Just avoid him automatically. And if some situation occurs where you hear he’s died. You know he’s dead. Don’t…don’t tell me. I can’t bring myself to hear that after twenty years, he just went and died for no fucking reason all over again.”

“That’s a big secret to keep Ker.”

“I know. Don’t feel obligated to keep it either. Maybe if that happens, I’ll need to know. I should know. You can make that call. Or not. I just…it’s so fucking ironic. I get over him. Feel like I have nothing to prove anymore, and I still feel that way. I do. But now he’s back and just…I don’t want it to end the exact same fucking way.”

“Because you care,” V murmured. “I get it. In some ways, I don’t get how you still can. He really can be a bastard. But if in some weird way it was Jackie I was worried about in some fucked up situation like this? I wouldn’t know what to do either.”

“Thankfully you’ll never have to. I can vouch for the fact that Jackie is certifiably smarter than Johnny.”

V chuckled at that.

“Can we…see them today?” asked Kerry. “If they’re up for it?”

“I thought you had plans at the label.”

“Fuck it. I want to be with you. I want to just spend today with you.”

V got what he was getting at. “I said it and I meant it. You know? You don’t have anything you need to prove to me.”

“I know. Just…for today. We’ve both been so busy since we got back, and that’s without even including the upheaval that Johnny’s caused. Let’s just take a day for ourselves.”

“Alright. I like that idea.”

“Thank you V.” Kerry kissed his cheek before resting his head against him again.

V went ahead and pulled out his phone again. He texted Jackie before just setting it to the side. Then they just held each other. V’s eyes even slipped shut. He was pretty sure Kerry’s had done the same. It felt like a more peaceful rest than after last night at least. Even if it only lasted a maximum of ten minutes before Jackie was calling V back.

Jackie opened with, “You free for lunch?”

“Yeah. Where you want to eat?”

“We can just go to the Coyote. There’s something Misty and I were meaning to tell everyone. This works perfectly. Mama will already be there. Just need to call Vik over.”

“Vik too? What exactly are you and Misty going to say?”

“You’ll just have to wait hermano,” laughed Jackie. “We’ll see you at eleven.”

“Eleven? Jackie, that’s in like, ten minutes.”

“You’re the one who asked about lunch last minute. Not my fault plans were already in place,” replied Jackie. “Though seriously, this works better. Was a little nervous just talking to ma by myself.”

“Oh yeah? Now you’ve really piqued my interest.”

“You’ll just have to wait to get here. Hurry up!”

V chuckled as Jackie ended the call.

“What was that all about?” asked Kerry just before a yawn escaped his lips. Oh yeah, he’d definitely fallen asleep.

“Got a couple of ideas. We’ll see if any of them are right when we get there. Come on. We’ll take the bike.”

Kerry got up with V. They only had to put their shoes on before Kerry was getting on behind V and wrapping his arms around him. He stayed there. Good and snug as V went through the streets. The day before was pushed to the side as they went to the Coyote Cojo. V had mentioned the place before, but this was the first time Kerry had ever walked into the place. He softly laughed.

“Hmm?”

“Just thinking how this place is nicer than half the places I played at when I was younger.”

“Yeah, nothing special, but it’s got its own vibe. As long as you don’t have beef with the Valentinos, you’re pretty much ok.” V waved to Pepe behind the bar.

“Hey V! Jackie’s got a table back there!”

“Thanks,” V replied as he guided Kerry over.

It was easy to find them as they sat in a corner with Mama Welles and Misty on one side and Jackie by them in his chair. Mama Welles looked them over. She said, “It is good to see you both. Thank you for the gifts again. You need to come over so I can treat you to a meal with them.”

“That would be wonderful,” Kerry said as they sat across from them.

“The closest thing to a homecooked meal I’ve had is him cooking eggs,” V said, “which is still touch and go at the moment.”

Jackie laughed. “You’d have more luck if you made breakfast.”

“What? I can’t try to do something nice every once in a while?” asked Kerry.

“Not if that nice thing is food poisoning,” teased Jackie.

They kept talking as they waited on Vik. However, V started to pick up that something was off. Jackie had always been an expressive talker. Yet right now his hands were firmly out of view. Even Misty was keeping her hands in her lap despite a drink having just been set in front of her. Were they—

“Sorry I’m late,” Vik said as he finally showed up. He grabbed a chair from an empty table and put it down next to Jackie. He nodded respectfully to Mama Welles. “Ma’am. Kids. Fellow old man.”

“Are you trying to make this a thing?” asked Kerry, referring to another time Vik had called him the exact same thing. “Because I’m not here for it.”

“Don’t be upset. You’re like fine wine,” V replied with a little nudge.

Kerry let out a small snort as Vik asked exactly what they were all doing here. “Not that I don’t mind the excuse to get out of work for an hour or two, but you usually only invite me over if there’s a match we’re going to or you want to sit in and watch some practice rounds,” he said to Jackie.

“And that one time a guy at the shop had a car fall on him,” Jackie quickly said.

“True, you still owe me that free tune-up.”

“Like I said. Just come on in when you need it,” chuckled Jackie. “But naw. This is muy importante. And with V asking if we wanted to do something today, seemed the best time to tell some of the most important people in our lives all at once.”

Jackie took Misty’s hand as she said, “Well. There you have it.” Finally, V saw them.

“I fucking knew it!” V exclaimed as Mama Welles leaned over and gave Misty a kiss on her cheek. Even now, it still surprised V how much she’d finally accepted Misty into her family. However, her words seemed to further prove that the bad blood that had begun between them was gone as Mama Welles called her mi hija.

Everyone else gave their congratulations even as Mama Welles gave her son a pointed stare. “You should have said something! I should have cooked. Prepared for such a special occasion.”

“If I had said anything, it wouldn’t have been a surprise at all mama,” Jackie chuckled.

“Hmph. At least invitations will be simple. You are all invited of course,” Mama Welles said.

“Well I say the celebration starts now. Drinks for everyone!”

“Not that I like to pass on a free beer,” Vik said, “But shouldn’t we be the ones treating you?”

“Save it for when it’s closer to the wedding,” Misty replied. “We did drag all of you here after all.”

“If it makes you happy Vik, you can buy the next round,” Jackie said.

“You know, on second thought, I’ll happily be treated for today.”

Everyone laughed, Jackie loudest of them all. “Come on V. You can help me carry everything back.”

V got up and followed Jackie over. He was ready to just order the drinks and then take them back to the table. As Pepe was busy though, Jackie said, “What’s wrong hermano? You both look rough.”

“I just found out my best friend is getting married. I’d rather just enjoy today,” V said.

“That’s fair. You’ll let me know if anything is going on though. Yeah?”

“Of course Jackie. It’s not…well I guess it kind of is relationship related…but it’s way more complicated than like us getting into a spat or anything. Like, more life and death complicated.”

“This have something to do with that job for Rogue. Doesn’t it?”

“Different job, but sort of. I’ll tell you about it. Just not right now. I specifically called you because Kerry and I wanted to have a normal day.”

“In that case, a normal day you will have!” declared Jackie. “Actually, this will be a great day! So great I’ll be sending you both home in a taxi.”

“Maybe scale it back a bit, but I’m here for it,” V laughed as Pepe finally came over to them.

They made it back to the table with drinks. They ordered some food from the kitchen. It was truly a normal, enjoyable outing and V and Kerry were able to just focus on each other and some friends. Afterwards, they planned to go home. They would probably order take out or just grab whatever was from the kitchen. Maybe Kerry would risk trying to cook something again which would just be funny to watch.

Instead, after finally saying goodbye to Jackie, Misty, and everyone else, they pulled up to their home to find Nancy waiting, leaning against her own car.

“Nanc, what are you doing here?” asked Kerry as he slipped off the bike. “And…what the hell is that on your car?”

“Rogue called. She knows we’re friends and figured I’d do better getting you an apology gift than she ever could.”

Kerry walked up and took the basket that Nancy shoved into his hands. “So you bought me an edible arrangement?”

“Thought you’d think it pretty funny that Rogue’s apology gift was that of all things.”

Kerry managed to crack a smile. “I can here her voice asking why the fuck you spent her money on this of all things.”

“Yep.”

“I guess she really does feel shitty for what happened. Do you know about that?” asked Kerry.

“And more. Johnny found me a couple of days ago.”

“Fuck. Well, you might as well come inside.”

Kerry went ahead as Nancy clapped V on his shoulder. “How ya doing kid?”

“Not dead but could be better.”

“Understandable. This is all so fucked.”

“Did Rogue or Silverhand try to get you involved in something too?” asked V as they walked into the home. Kerry unceremoniously dropped the basket on the nearest surface. However, he paused and seemed to second guess himself. He picked off all the chocolate covered things before finding a place to sit.

“I heard from Rogue that Johnny was looking for me. She said it was up to me whether I agreed to meet him or not.”

“And you said yes,” sighed Kerry as he popped one of the pieces into his mouth.

“Curiosity. You know?”

“What did Johnny have to say?” asked Kerry.

“Well, first he said he liked the name change. Second that he was glad I hadn’t surrounded myself with another asshole like my husband. Told him I must be doing something wrong since I was talking to him again.”

Kerry snorted.

“Yeah, he thought that was funny too. Basically, he had a few leads on this Grayson and needed help checking them out. Considering what happened with Rogue, I’m assuming you both know his goal is to kill Adam Smasher.”

“Is that it?” sighed Kerry.

Nancy shrugged. “I don’t know. He’s been saying the same shit that he’s always said involving Arasaka and big corps, but…I don’t know. He seems to be singularly focused on getting revenge. Wants it for Rogue too, though she’s been on the fence about it from the beginning.”

“He probably thinks he’s helping,” sighed Kerry. “It’s a very Johnny solution to it all.”

“I guess you’re not wrong. I think he’s pretty much done with me. Said I shouldn’t get involved what with how dangerous it was probably going to get. It’s hard to say if he’ll try to contact me again or not since his last leads didn’t go anywhere.”

“He found Grayson at least,” V suddenly piped in. “That might have led him somewhere.”

“Maybe—”

“It doesn’t matter,” Kerry said as he shoved more food into his mouth. “I don’t need him in my life! I could have lost V because of the shit that happened.”

“What if Johnny needs us?”

Kerry let out a loud groan. “Don’t say that.”

“Hey, I’m not saying we should give our fucking support. Lord knows we enabled each other enough back in the day with all the dumb shit we tried to pull. But if he just continues on this path, he might die again. I know none of us wants that no matter how upset we get.”

“And what? We’re going to stop him? He fucking shot someone on stage once! Were we able to stop then? No! I…fuck! I don’t want him dead, but if that means risking V, my relationship with V in anyway, then fuck Johnny. Fuck his whole crusade. Fuck everything about him.”

A sad smile graced V’s lips as Nancy snorted.

“Don’t laugh! I’m serious.”

“No. I know. Just…I think this is the first relationship I’ve ever seen you so serious about. I’m glad. Cause I think V isn’t too bad either.”

V rolled his eyes. “Thanks Nancy.”

“Hey, only adequate compliments coming from me. But I am being serious Kerry. Even if you say you’re done with Johnny, he may not be done with you yet or me.”

“Fuck him. I’m not letting him fucking in again.”

“You say that now, but what about when he’s knocking on your front door again?”

“Need I remind you, he never knocked. He broke in,” groaned Kerry. He tiredly rubbed his eyes as V finally sat down next to him.

“You don’t have to force yourself into one decision or another for the future. It’s just going to make you feel guilty when you can’t keep that promise.”

“He’s right Kerry. Listen to him,” Nancy said. “Though I can also pass along the message for Johnny to bother someone else if he ever feels like it.”

“Again, do you think he’d listen?”

She shrugged. “Can’t hurt. I’ll see you both later. Just figured I’d fill you in on everything while I was here.”

Kerry nodded. “Thanks, Nanc.”

“Of course. I’ll see myself out. Bye guys.”

As she left, V put one hand on Kerry’s cheek and forced him to look at him. “I’m serious. You’ve already admitted that you still care for Silverhand. Just go ahead and admit that you don’t know how you’ll react around him. It’s better than saying never and then just feeling fucking guilty about it later.”

“You’re too smart for your own good,” murmured Kerry. “I’ll try. I’ll think about it at least.”

“That’s all I’m asking. Now, enough about Silverhand. This is supposed to be our day and I am determined to enjoy the rest of it.”

“You’re right.” Kerry kissed him before pulling him closer. “So, what shall we do next?”


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apartment's still a mess but managed a moment to write out this. Honestly, thanks for the well wishes, it was really sweet and I'm glad you enjoyed the last chapter. I hope you enjoy this one too <3

A whole week of no Silverhand.

A whole week of normal gigs and normal interactions with Kerry.

A whole week of just regular neck risking shit and not death-defying shit.

Then the parade celebrating Saburo Arasaka’s legacy finally came.

V purposefully made sure he didn’t have anything he needed to do in the city that day. Kerry moved a meeting around because he didn’t want to deal with the amount of traffic problems the parade was going to cause. Because of that, the day started out as a lazy one with Kerry going down on V and V gripping the bedsheets.

“Fuck Kerry.”

“I can do that later too,” Kerry said as he came up and kissed V’s lips.

“Give me a break at least.”

Kerry chuckled. He fell next to V and threw an arm over V’s chest, kissing his neck and his chin and just under his ear.

“I’ll make breakfast today,” V said.

“Please, go ahead. I would love non-burnt toast.”

“You’ll get it down eventually. Or not.”

“Eh, cooking’s just never been my strong suit.”

“Well if you’re ever wanting to do something nice, you could just start mornings off like this.”

“Now I can do that.”

“Oh, I know you can.”

They kissed again before bursting into laughter. There was nothing urgent to attend to. Because of that, it was almost an hour more before V was dragging himself out of bed. He ended up making breakfast for himself and Kerry. They watched a movie. Some teasing turned into ‘sparing’. They had a late lunch. Kerry played something for V on the piano. They went for a swim.

It was just a wonderfully normal day that slowly turned to night.

After the swim, V took a shower first. He was on the second floor, trying to think of what movie they should watch next. Maybe a show. He wasn’t sure. Then a bit of light caught the corner of his eyes. He looked out the nearest window. A frown set deep into his face as he slowly walked over and strained his eyes. The parade was going on in that section of town. There had been some pretty crazy lights that could be seen from where they were. But this… Movement in some of the lights was erratic. Like something had disrupted the parade and things were being shaken uncontrollably, out of order. His eyes strained more.

There.

In the dark night.

It was only visible against the lights.

Smoke billowing into the sky.

“V?” Kerry walked in. Hair still damp from his own shower.

“I think something happened at the parade,” V said as he quickly turned and put the nearest TV on the news. What immediately popped up had V freezing. His mind momentarily thought of Goro Takemura. Of his plans. Considering what V was seeing, he doubted things had gone as intended. However, his mind quickly forgot Takemura. He remembered that Jackie and Misty had mentioned they would probably go.

V was already calling Jackie’s number just as Kerry said, “Fuck! Nancy was supposed to do a fluff piece on this stupid event!”

They both called their friends, anxiously pacing and waiting for someone to answer.

Jackie answered first and V immediately started with, “Are you ok? Please tell me you and Misty are safe!”

“Oh yeah, we left almost an hour ago. Kind of hard to move a wheelchair through a thick crowd. Besides, it was the street food and those weird vendors we were mainly after. It’s crazy, right? Misty and I were watching the rest of the parade on the TV when all the chaos started.”

“Yeah, I can just barely see the smoke from where I am,” sighed V. “Thank god you’re ok.”

At that moment, after calling for a second time, Kerry got a hold of Nancy. “Nanc! Nanc where are you?” A pause. Then his voice changed. Still panicked, but more urgent. “Nancy, get out of there.”

“Listen,” V said. “I got to go. Just wanted to make sure you both were ok.”

“We are. Thanks for checking in. Guessing you stayed at one of your places.”

“Yeah.”

“Well, just stay safe. The entire city is probably going into a lockdown. I’ll let you know if anything changes tonight or tomorrow.”

“I’ll do the same. Bye Jackie.”

“Bye-bye hermano.”

V hung up and quickly turned to Kerry who was looking more panicked by the second. He put the phone on speaker so V could hear. In the moment, there was no sound of Nancy. Just people crying out, yelling at each other to move. An ear grating noise that sounded like the phone had hit the ground and then been scraped across it by a shoe.

Their eyes met again. Kerry looked too afraid to say anything. To call out to Nancy again and risk hearing nothing.

Then V’s ears caught what sounded like Nancy saying, “Oh fuck.” It sounded like she might have picked up her phone, or someone had, and both V and Kerry quickly cried, “Nancy?!”

“I’m here. Fuck, my head. There’s no way I’m going to be able to get home in the middle of this.”

“Then come here,” Kerry quickly said. “We’re closer. There’s only a bit of road you’ll need to get through before getting past where the city will likely put up the roadblocks.”

“Yeah…yeah ok. Sounds good.” She kept the phone on. Other shouts and cries could be heard around her.

Kerry moved to sit down, and V quickly followed. “What happened. Any idea?”

“No. The parade was almost over. I was about to head out. Pretty…pretty much done with the fluff piece.”

“Are you ok?” asked V, noting the breathiness.

“Just got knocked around a bit. Nothing I can’t handle. But Arasaka’s men started all moving. Zeroing in on one section of the parade. Everyone could tell something was wrong. Just not what. Then an explosion happened at the opposite end of the street.”

“Must have been the smoke I saw,” murmured V.

“A distraction then?” asked Kerry.

“Maybe. A damn stupid one though if it was. I don’t see what could be accomplished in all this mess. Ok…ok. I’m almost at my car. I’m hanging up because something tells me I’m going to have to focus on the road and speed out of here if I’m to make it past the blockades.”

“Just stay safe. I’ll see you soon,” Kerry said just before she hung up. He let out a long sigh before focusing on V. “It sounded like Jackie and Misty were ok?”

“Yeah, they’re fine. Already at home.”

“That’s good.”

“So much for a normal night. Huh?”

“We at least had a normal day. And Nancy’s ok and should be headed here. That’s good too.”

“Yeah, we’ll just make it a sleepover.”

Kerry managed a tired laugh. He glanced out in the direction of the city again. V could tell he was still worried though. To be fair, so was V. That feeling probably wouldn’t disappear until Nancy made it to them and they knew she was safe and sound.

“I’m going to make some coffee,” Kerry eventually said.

“Yeah, I think I could go for some too.”

V followed Kerry down to the kitchen. They stayed there up until they heard a car pulling up. Kerry moved quickly with V right behind. However, the moment they were outside and could see Nancy struggling to get out of the car, they were both sprinting. V fully pulled open the door as Kerry caught her.

“You didn’t say anything about getting hit in the head!” Kerry exclaimed.

Nancy’s hand came away from her own face. She looked at the blood there for a second before she murmured, “Thought someone just spilled a drink on me.”

“Who did it?” asked V. He reached in and grabbed Nancy’s car keys. He closed the door behind her and quickly helped Kerry as he continued to support her.

“Went the wrong way apparently. Arasaka…Arasaka guy bumped me.”

“More like he tried to crack your fucking skull open. Shit. You should not have driven here,” V said.

“Well, too late for that.”

“That’s one way to put it. V, do you think you can call Viktor?”

“I can, but I don’t know if he’ll be able to get here anytime soon.”

“I know. Just, it’s for Nancy.”

“I know. I’ll definitely try. I can patch her up a bit in the meantime though.”

“Stop being such worry warts. Worse than my mother,” mumbled Nancy. “I’ll be fine.”

“I’m sure you will, but you bled a lot. Are still bleeding actually,” Kerry replied. He looked around his first floor. He seemed to try and decide where best to lay her down before he decided it didn’t matter what kind of mess it would make. He just went straight for the stairs and V continued to help.

They got her to sit down on their bed. V walked off and started to grab any and all medical supplies in the household while Kerry stayed with her. There wasn’t much, but it would hopefully do for now. V took a second to text Vik too.

 _I need you to get to my home if you have a chance._ He quickly added, _Not the apartment, but Kerry’s house._

It didn’t take long for Vik to reply.

_Shit kid. Don’t tell me you were involved in that fucking mess at the parade._

_No. It’s Bes Isis. Or Nancy. Kerry’s friend. I’ve mentioned her I think. She was doing a piece there when all hell broke loose. Got hit in the head pretty bad. May need stitches. May have a concussion._

_I’ll try to be there soon. It’ll probably take time though. May have to take a massive detour in order to get there at all._

_Yeah, I understand if you can’t make it tonight._

_I’ll still try. Tell me if she gets worse. You can always put me on speaker and I can walk you through what to do if it gets serious._

_Thanks Vik. I’ll keep that in mind. See you soon._

_Hopefully kid._

V put his phone away and grabbed the rest of the supplies. He then went straight back to the bed. The sheets were already ruined. There were several bloody handprints from where Nancy must have shifted her weight to try and keep herself upright. Kerry was pressing a hand towel to the wound on her head. It was already soaked through.

She was talking to Kerry and sounded grumpy as hell. That was at least a good sign. “I’m going to forever hold this over you. I hope you know that. You’re like a mother hen.”

“I will gladly deal with the ridicule,” Kerry replied.

“My head just hurts. Thoughts a little fuzzy, but I already feel better. I don’t need to take your bed.”

“Hey,” V piped up. “You’ve already marked it. It’s all yours for tonight.”

“You’re supposed to side with me V.”

“Must have lost that memo.”

Kerry actually laughed at that as Nancy simply rolled her eyes.

“You two are impossible.”

“What?” asked Kerry. “You’re telling me you’ve never fantasized about two handsome men waiting on you hand on foot.”

“Well now that you mention it…”

They all managed a laugh at that, Nancy only pausing to hold her head as pain ran through it.

“Here. Let’s get you cleaned up,” V said as he finally went through what he had and decided what to do first.

Kerry helped a little as V first cleaned the wound and got a better look at it. The Arasaka guard must have used the butt of a rifle or something. It was deep. Would definitely need stitches. Thankfully, it seemed that if Nancy did have a concussion, it wasn’t too serious though.

As V put some temporary bandages on her head-hopefully Vik would be able to stitch it up when he got there-Nancy said, “What a day. I just want to pass out.”

“Stay awake just a little longer,” Kerry urged.

V nodded in agreement. “If there’s anything serious that’s going on in your head, we should see signs of that in the next few hours.”

“Well I smelled that coffee when we went through the kitchen. I guess give me a cup of that,” sighed Nancy. “But what else are we going to do to keep me awake?”

“If you’re open to suggestions…” started Kerry.

“We’re not having a threesome.”

“I mean, I’m not opposed to the idea either,” V said.

“Very funny you two, but I don’t think your comedy routine will be enough. How about that pool table? And I don’t mean me riding you both on top of it.”

“Now that is an image that is not coming out of my head any time soon,” grinned Kerry. “Come on. Coffee, then seeing if you can beat my ass at a game of pool while injured.”

“I bet you I still can.”

“Uh huh. We’ll see about that.”

The three of them first went to the kitchen. V and Kerry moved a bit slower just to make sure Nancy didn’t get too woozy again or anything. Then it was back to the pool table as the three of them grabbed the sticks and V set up the balls into formation. Ignoring how pale Nancy was and the bloody wrappings around her head, it could have been a normal night. V usually only hung out with Nancy when Kerry had a group over. If it was one on one, it was almost always job related. It just being the three of them was nice though. Kind of like when Kerry and V would go out for a meal with Jackie and Misty. It was an odd dynamic, but one V welcomed and enjoyed immensely. They did multiple games and though Nancy looked even more tired by the end, she did look a bit better.

V also got a text at about two o’clock from Vik. “He should be getting here in about an hour.”

“Any chance I can rest my eyes while we all wait?” yawned Nancy.

“You seem good, all things considered. Use our bed,” V said. Before Nancy could argue, he also added, “Your blood is already over it. Use it rather than ruining a couch or something.”

“Fine. I give up. Wake me when the doc gets here.”

“Of course,” Kerry said. “Want us to make any food? Order something? If anything can even get out here at this time?”

“Yeah, maybe. Your pick,” murmured Nancy as she walked off towards the bed. She wasn’t as wobbly as before which was good too, though it was clear she was exhausted.

As she left, Kerry said, “I wonder if the cops know anything more about what happened. Or Arasaka.”

“I don’t know. If Takemura isn’t dead or in Arasaka’s custody, he better be as far away as possible.”

“Right. You told me he was going to do something stupid during the parade. You think all that was him?”

“Maybe someone in Arasaka was trying to help him. Or he teamed up with someone else. Maybe shit just went sideways and the chaos that happened wasn’t intended at all. Hard to say,” sighed V. “Think you can sleep at all?”

“After all that coffee? Not a chance. I’ll just sleep most of tomorrow away.”

“I’ll stay up with you then. Might as well wait for Vik to get here at least.”

“Another game of pool?”

“Sure.”

V and Kerry played into the night as it got closer and closer to three. They checked in on Nancy, but she was fast asleep. It seemed Vik should be getting there sooner rather than later when they heard a car pull in. It was a bit early, but still within the right time frame for it to be Vik. Neither V nor Kerry thought anything of it. They headed down, went over to the front door—

Only for them to see the last two people either would have expected to be in front of them this night.

“Johnny-oh fuck!” Despite the anger that blossomed over Kerry’s face, his reactions were automatic. He was grabbing Johnny’s side as V grabbed Takemura.

“V…he said to come here. I am sorry to impose on you.”

“It’s ok. You couldn’t have known,” murmured V just as Kerry and Johnny collapsed on the ground.

It seemed Johnny had fully lost consciousness. His long hair loose and covering his face. His shirt stiff with blood on his side. Takemura wasn’t much better, but at least he was still standing and not bleeding over everything though there were certainly scrapes and developing bruises over his exposed skin.

“Let me get you to a chair. Kerry, I’ll help you in a second,” V quickly said. He had no idea what this was about. Well, actually he had a lot of ideas of what this was about. He knew both Takemura and Silverhand were out for their own kinds of revenge. He knew the parade had ended in chaos. They must have clashed or their plans had coincided or maybe something else entirely had caused this. V wasn’t sure. But they were both hurt. Johnny looked like he was possibly bleeding out. Despite the hell that it might cause upon their doorstep, V couldn’t just kick them back out. At least not Takemura. He seemed like a decent person. Silverhand might have been a bit more tempting to throw to the curb if it wasn’t for how fucking panicked Kerry looked.

V got Takemura into a chair and then ran straight back over. He helped Kerry handle Silverhand’s deadweight. “He needs to lie down. The bed is already fucking ruined. It might as well just be Vik’s operating room.”

“Yeah. Fine. Let’s just get him comfortable,” murmured Kerry.

They both got Johnny up the stairs and into the bed besides Nancy who slightly stirred. “What the hell…”

“Don’t freak out—”

“Oh fuck. Of course Johnny was involved. Of course he was.” Nancy pushed herself up with a pained grunt. V took over for Kerry and started to pull up Silverhand’s shirt. He’d been shot multiple times. The worst one was in his side where the bullet had gone through. V quickly grabbed what he could to try and staunch the bleeding.

Then a chilling shout from downstairs. “V! V what happened!”

“I’m ok Vik!” V shouted back. “But we need you up here now!”

Vik bounded up the stairs before skidding to a stop. “You said a headwound!”

“Yeah, well shit clearly changed in the last hour,” growled V.

“Fuck! Any chance you got a couple bottles of disinfectant lying around?”

“Not really,” replied Kerry.

“You got vodka? Go fucking get that. Scissors. Plyers. You got a fucking toolbox somewhere, go grab it because I no way in hell have time to go back,” Vik said as he threw off his jacket and started rolling up his sleeves. “Guy downstairs, he bleeding out too? Because I may have to fucking choose between them.”

“Nothing open that I could see,” V said.

“Well, he’s passed out now. If he’s bleeding internally, there’s nothing I can do.”

Fuck. V hoped it didn’t end up like that. Besides the fact that disposal was not really his area and Arasaka had to be looking for the guy which would make things way more complicated, Takemura just didn’t seem like a bad guy. Stupid. Definitely. Or maybe just stupidly loyal. But V really hoped he didn’t die. However, if he was bleeding internally, they didn’t have the tools or abilities to know what it was or how to fix it. At least with Silverhand there could be a chance to save him.

“Ms. Isis, sorry to move you, but I’ll get to you next.”

“It’s fine,” murmured Nancy as she pushed herself over and off the bed. She ended up just sitting on the floor as she carefully held her head.

“V, grab any clean towels you have. If there are gloves somewhere, any kind, get those too.”

“On it.”

Everyone scattered. They grabbed what they could. Nancy would have helped as well if her head didn’t hurt so much. However, all she could muster was sitting off to the side, eyes glued to Silverhand and Vik. There wasn’t really a toolbox in the house, but thankfully something had broken a little while ago and V had just brought some things over. He couldn’t even remember what it had been, but at least they had something. There were no gloves though and it seemed like disinfecting their own hands would be the best they could do.

Kerry and V rushed back. They did everything Vik ordered them to do and in the middle of disinfecting the main wound, Silverhand woke up screaming.

“Johnny! Johnny! We are trying to keep you alive so stop fucking fighting!” shouted Kerry.

“Get him something to bite down on! I don’t have any anesthetic and if that doesn’t shut him up, you’re going to have to knock him out so I can fucking focus,” Vik growled back.

“Ok. Ok. Fuck!”

The best Kerry could think of in the moment was a guitar strap. He folded it over and shoved it into Silverhand’s mouth as he supported his head. V partially held him down as well in order to keep him from jerking around too much as Vik started to dig in. Every time V glanced over, he thought for sure Silverhand would be passed out again. Somehow, through most of it he was awake. It was only near the end, around seven o’clock in the morning, when he finally seemed to close his eyes as Vik snipped the last stitch.

“That’s the best I’ve got for now. Ms. Isis, I’ll get to you next. Then the man downstairs,” Vik said.

All anyone could manage were mute nods. For V, he was just tired. But for Kerry and Nancy? It was one of their worst nightmares in front of them. Johnny Silverhand nearly dead. Maybe dying. Vik was good. It seemed like the guy had finally stabilized. But it was difficult to say what would happen in the next couple of hours. There was no telling if they’d missed something without the proper equipment.

Kerry took out the guitar strap in Silverhand’s mouth. He started to brush the hair out of the man’s face only to freeze. There was so much blood everywhere. On all of their hands.

“You ok?” whispered V.

Vik came back in, hands cleaned and went straight to Nancy. He was nothing if not a professional.

“Not the first time I kept someone from bleeding out if you remember,” murmured Kerry.

“Still, even I know I wasn’t this bad off when Vik found me.”

“No, you weren’t.” Kerry started to wipe at his own face, only to remember all the blood again. He looked to V. Then gestured for him to follow.

They went into the main bathroom and took a shower together. It was both just to get the blood off of them, but also a moment of privacy as their home felt more like a medical ward right now.

Kerry had just gotten his own hands cleaned and was washing V’s hair as he said, “It had to be about Smasher. About trying to find him.”

“From everything we know? Probably,” sighed V.

“He’s not going to stop. I know he won’t. But at least for right now—”

“I’m not going to make you kick him out the moment he can open his eyes again. He may not be the kind of person to return the favor, but he needs help. At least if he hopes to get back on his feet.”

“Thank you. I know you’re just saying that because he’s my friend.”

“I would say the same thing even if he wasn’t. But that definitely plays into it too.”

“You know the saddest thing?”

“Hmm?”

“He’s just delaying it. I have a feeling he’s been delaying it all these years.”

“Delaying what?”

“His death. And as much as I don’t want him to die again, I don’t think I can stop it,” sighed Kerry. They fell into silence after that, V unsure of what he could even say as they continued to wash Silverhand’s blood from their skin.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, my apartment is still very not fixed and sadly don't think I'll be able to get the next chapter out soon. Just really hard to only focus on writing with everything going on, but I am glad I finally finished this chapter. When first thinking about a sequel, this was actually the first scene I created and was what finally made me start writing this second part because of how badly I wanted to tell these versions of events. Hope you all enjoy it and thank you for reading as always and all your lovely comments!

V and Kerry got cleaned up. Vik finished stitching Nancy up and then went to Takemura. V had gone with Vik, figuring Takemura would be more willing to take help if a familiar face was around. Also, Silverhand was passed the fuck out. Hopefully Takemura would be able to answer a few questions.

“Hey. Takemura. Goro. I got a doc here.”

Takemura jumped at being woken up, but quickly stilled once he remembered where he was. He shifted in his chair. The motion clearly showed the pain he was in. “I have imposed enough.”

“Maybe you have on him, but you’re my patient now,” Vik said. “No bullet wounds?”

A moment of hesitation before Takemura murmured, “Simply skimmed my shoulder. Nothing more.”

“Hmm. Still should be treated. What else?”

Takemura looked to V. “I owe you enough as is.”

“Vik’s already here. Just take advantage of it. Please,” V said. “You can pay me back by explaining what the hell happened and why you were working with Silverhand again.”

“We were not,” Takemura sharply said. “It…was simply a hand of fate.”

“Then what—”

“Hey. He can explain in a second. Take off that jacket. Let me see what else I’m going to have to work with.”

Takemura let out a long sigh but slowly complied. Vik took a second as V silently stood off to the side. Kerry walked down a little while later. “How’s he doing?”

“Well, if anything major were bleeding internally, he’d already be dead,” Vik said. “Though I’m going to have to reset your shoulder. It was popped back into place wrong.”

“It was a drastic situation. I had to do what I could in order to get out of it.”

“Trust me, I’ve seen stupider moves in worse situations. At least this one I can fix. Though it’s going to fucking hurt and swell up even more than it already has. Take off the shirt. V, help keep him steady.”

V walked over. He’d seen Vik do similar procedures before. Even had a joint pushed back in place too. He knew how much this was going to hurt. Takemura took it like a champ though. He gritted his teeth, and V barely felt him jerk from where he was sitting.

“Kerry, can you get me some ice? In a plastic bag if you have it and wrap it in a towel.”

“On it.”

Vik went to cleaning a somewhat deep cut as V finally asked, “What the hell happened? Did you get to Hanako at all?”

“Hanako Arasaka?” interrupted Vik. “V, you have got to be fucking shitting me right now.”

“Hey, you’re just here to patch up everyone. Put headphones in if you want plausible deniability,” snorted V. He turned back to Takemura. With just the name, he’d seen a different kind of pain blossom in Takemura’s eyes. V made his voice a little kinder. “What happened with Hanako?”

“That…monster…”

“You mean Yorinobu.”

“He has done the unspeakable yet again. But no. I mean the monster who stands at his side. The main criminal who he commands with all the other retches he surrounds himself with for protection. I tried to speak to Hanako-sama.”

At that moment, Kerry returned with the ice.

“Thank you,” Vic said. “V, if you’re going to sit here and listen to this bullshit, you can hold it against his shoulder. I need a fucking smoke.”

“I think I’ll join you on that,” sighed Kerry.

They walked away as V got comfortable. “Did you speak with her?”

“Yes, but only for a short while. She…she was not willing to go. To listen. I understood this could occur. I was ready to take her somewhere we could talk.”

“You mean you were going to fucking kidnap her. Jesus Goro. All of Arasaka would have come down on your head.”

“They would have. I know this as fact as they did it already,” murmured Takemura. “I am sure the…incident will be explained away.”

“What incident? What exactly happened? All I know is pure chaos happened at the parade.”

Takemura gave a slight nod. “Silverhand’s confrontation with Adam Smasher began some time before I reached Hanako-sama. However, they quite literally fell into Hanako-sama’s room. What happened next…it is hard to describe. I knew to survive, I had to take down Smasher, but Silverhand is a hard man to read and his only care was for the monster. He barely registered Hanako-sama or myself in the moment. We could not coordinate. Our own vices, our own goals clashing.”

“Why didn’t Smasher kill you both if you failed so horribly?”

“He nearly did. We should have died. But Smasher’s own vice ruined his goal as much as ours. He did not want a quick death for Silverhand. That much was clear. And he is much the dog people call him. He contacted his master immediately and Yorinobu’s question was clear. ‘Did my sister die in the chaos?’”

“Wait. So not only did he kill his father, but he actually had Smasher kill his sister too?”

“I do not know if that was his intention. Consciously or not. But Smasher took matters into his own hands. Decided that Hanako-sama would be too much trouble should she ever take control of the company. That Smasher’s place was not insured as long as she lived. So he killed her, and Silverhand and I made our escape. In escaping, Silverhand took a bullet for me. In doing so, despite what a despicable man I believe him to be, I had to at least try and save his life.”

“Johnny Silverhand took a bullet for you? Like, if you said he did that for anyone, I’d be surprised, but you of all people? Saburo’s former bodyguard?”

“He might have simply been trying to push me out of the way so he could reach the door first.”

V snorted. “Now that’s more likely.”

“No matter if it is or not, I knew I had to repay the act.” Takemura let out a long, tired sigh. He looked like he wanted to sleep forever.

“What are your plans now? It seemed like Hanako was at the center of what you hoped to achieve. What can you do now that she’s gone?”

“No longer what I though the right course of action would be. There is no right course. I failed him. I failed his daughter, and in doing so, any hope of securing his legacy. Those that might have welcomed me back will no longer with Hanako-sama’s death. Therefore, there is only one answer. There is no justice in Night City. There is no honor. You were right V. But there is revenge and if my dying breath must be given to ensure Yorinobu breaths his last, so be it.”

“You’d sacrifice so much for that man? For people who probably saw you just as expendable as anyone else?”

“Let us simply agree to disagree. You would never understand. Or perhaps you simply prefer not to. But I will see Yorinobu’s end.”

V let out a long sigh. “Well, you can’t do much until you’re healed. I won’t stop you if you try to leave, but I hope you stay. Just for the night. Or day. Technically. But you know what I mean.”

He waited. He expected Takemura to argue. To disappear. V would only ever find out what happened if the news got wind of it. Even then, it might not be divulged if Takemura lived or not. This was where V’s involvement in the story would end. Instead, he was shocked as Takemura said, “You are right. At least a moment of rest.”

“At least that,” agreed V. “The bed’s already taken, but there’s a couch upstairs. Let me help you get to that.”

V finally removed the half-melted bag of ice. He helped Takemura up and guided him to the second floor. Takemura eased himself onto the couch. V went to grab a pillow and blanket, but when he got back, Takemura was already fast asleep. V put the blanket over him but left the pillow to the side. He then went to check on Nancy and Silverhand.

It was difficult to ignore the blood. It was everywhere. Soaked into all manner of cloth and speckled against the ground.

He was a bit surprised to see Nancy had returned to the bed and fallen asleep next to Silverhand. Whoever said a person looked more at peace, younger, with less weight on their shoulders when asleep had clearly never met these two. If anything, their age showed through more. They both looked so god damn tired and old. But they looked less tense in an odd way, even if the pain of the situation was not gone from Nancy’s face. Even Silverhand had a strange sense of calm about him. Like he somehow knew who was lying beside him.

Suddenly, a wheezing, broken whistle of air escaped Silverhand’s lips. V froze.

What was he supposed to do?!

It sounded like a fucking death rattle!

Was he dying?

Fuck, Johnny Silverhand was dying!

He’d suddenly stopped moving!

His chest was no longer rising!

V needed to get Vik. He needed to—

But just as the panic really set in, Silverhand’s lungs filled again and his chest continued to rise and fall in slightly steadier motions. Nancy stirred next to him, but neither woke.

V waited a second more. Just in case. However, when neither really moved again-or stopped moving altogether-V finally left to find Vik and Kerry. They were out front. A couple of stubs on the ground showed they’d both already gone through about two cigarettes each.

In the morning light, the blood shown bright off Vik’s clothes.

“I put Takemura to bed on the main couch. Checked on the others too.”

“Everyone still breathing?” asked Vik.

“Thankfully.”

“Hmm. I’m going to leave shortly to get some proper tools, but I’ll be back. I don’t feel comfortable leaving any of them until at least another day has passed.”

“Thank you,” Kerry murmured. “I will pay you whatever you ask.”

“Yeah, you’ll do that and then some,” grumbled Vik. He glanced at V. “You better fucking stay out of this kid. I know who nearly fucking bled out there. Don’t know what the hell is happening, but stay away.”

“Trust me. I’ve been trying.”

“Uh huh. Jackie know?”

“Not on what happened tonight, but I’ve kept him up to date.”

“Hmm. As long as you’ve got a few people telling you not to risk your neck for this shit.” Then Vik’s face grew a little kinder. He finished his cigarette and looked at them both. “I know it’s been a rough fucking night, but I need at least one of you up and aware in case anything happens with any of them. Even Bes Isis. That hit to the head could have always been worse than it seemed.”

“Of course. Thank you again.”

“I’m going to head out now. Shouldn’t be longer than two hours at the most. May need to purchase some things if I don’t have everything at the clinic. See you both soon.”

“See ya Vik.”

“Thank you,” Kerry said one last time as he finished his own cigarette. As Vik left, Kerry turned to V. “You’ve dealt with more than enough tonight. You should get some rest.”

“No way. If you stay up, so will I. We can rest when Vik gets back.”

Kerry didn’t argue. He looked grateful that V had decided to do so. They walked back into the house and went straight for the coffee maker again. As they put another pot on, Kerry asked, “Was Nancy still awake?”

“No. She actually fell asleep next to Silverhand.”

“You think it’s weird. I can already tell.”

The water started to heat up. “A little. I don’t know. It almost looked like she was trying to comfort him. Or herself.”

“Maybe. Trust me. Johnny pisses Nancy off just as much as me. But she…she still cares too. He was there actually.”

“There?”

“When she threw her husband out the window. Well. Not there, there. But I’m guessing you never heard the full story.”

“Nancy mentioned what led up to it once. When I asked. But not what happened afterwards. Where were you and the rest of the band?”

“At a gig. Or it was supposed to be a gig, except Nancy was late. Mind you, Nancy was never late. Still isn’t. She was always the most put together person any of us had met. We never suspected. Never asked further and Nanc was good at hiding it too. So good in fact, that her being late really was the first warning sign we ever got. However, Henry had just overdosed for the second time. Denny was taking care of him as she always did back in the day. Getting him ready to get to a hospital. I’ll admit, at the first sign there wasn’t going to be a gig that night, I found a pretty nice wall to get blown against. But, with all that, it meant that though Johnny wasn’t the most sober, he was the only one not actually doing anything that fucking second. Denny got real bossy with him apparently, but somehow she got Johnny to listen. She told him to go find her, and he did. He found Nancy. Right after.”

“Fuck.”

“That’s putting it mildly. I don’t know exactly what happened. Just that it was bad. Johnny didn’t even do his dumb, Johnny-shit like making a run for it or trying to fight the fucking cops as they finally arrived. He just held her.”

“It’s hard to imagine Silverhand being kind.”

“He…I don’t know. It was kindness wrapped up in booze and drugs and a fucking asshole personality, so I don’t know if you could actually call it kind. But we were a family. A fucked up family that fought more than cats and dogs, but outside of us, we usually stuck up for each other. Of course, Johnny immediately started a fight when they tried to pull him away from Nancy, though that I can’t even really blame him for. Earned him a pretty hefty fine. Would have gotten jail time too, but Nancy was already going to plead guilty. She just made sure Johnny wasn’t affected anymore than necessary in the plea agreement.”

“He took a bullet for Takemura,” V suddenly said after he got some fresh cups down for them.

“You’re shitting me.”

“Well, in Takemura’s own words, he was likely just trying to push past him to get to the door.”

Kerry snorted. A smile finally cracked his sleepless face. “Sounds like Johnny. So what actually happened?”

V explained what he could as he finally poured the fresh pot of coffee. He went over Takemura’s side of things before adding, “No idea how Silverhand knew to go there for Smasher or how they ended up crashing into Takemura and Hanako. Suppose it doesn’t matter that much. Smasher still slipped through Silverhand’s fingers and Takemura’s whole plan went up in smokes.”

“Johnny won’t stop. Assuming he wakes up from this, he won’t. From the sounds of it, neither will Takemura.”

“Probably not.”

They waited a second more, standing in the final silence of their home. As Kerry took a couple of sips, he added, “When…if he wakes up, I’m making Johnny pay for a new fucking bed.”

V let out a soft laugh. “You think he actually will?”

“Oh, I’ll make sure he does. I don’t care if he has to rob a bank. His blood is everywhere. That means that bed officially belongs to him and he has to get me a new one.”

“Sounds like a rule you all had back in the day.”

“Something like that. Though speaking of. Where the hell are we going to sleep?”

“I suppose that’s the price you pay for an open, minimalist modern style house.”

Kerry rolled his eyes.

“Tonight, we can just gather up some blankets and pillows and sleep on the floor. Even if we had a bed, I doubt either of us would get a good night’s sleep. But afterwards, until everything is cleaned and we have a place to sleep again, we can just stay at my place.”

“I like the sound of that. Guess we better start making our makeshift bed though.”

Kerry and V finished their coffee before trying to find pillows and blankets not covered in blood. They found a section on the second floor, not far off from Takemura or where the bed was. They set everything down. Overlapping as many blankets as they could so it wouldn’t be so hard. Kerry checked in on Nancy and Silverhand multiple times. V let him be. They were two of his oldest friends. Possibly dearest ones even if there were a lot of complicated emotions wrapped up in Silverhand. V remembered getting Jackie to Vik and waiting to see if he would live to see the next day. He understood how Kerry was feeling.

Not long after, Vik eventually returned.

They stayed up a little to watch him work and to see if anything immediately changed. When it didn’t though, they both finally went to bed. V felt Kerry wrap his arms around him. He relished in the warmth on the hard floor whose cold still managed to seep through the blankets. Then all too soon, it felt like V was stirring awake. There was light streaming in from outside. Going by the long shadows, the sun must have been low in the sky, but was it just later that evening, or was it the next morning? V couldn’t tell. Neither did he get a chance to think further on it as he realized what had woken him up.

People were yelling.

Kerry was moving right away. V looked over, but Takemura was gone. The yelling sounded like it was coming from downstairs.

Jesus, it felt like V had barely rested his eyes. His body hurt from sleeping on the floor, and his head hurt from staying up too late and not getting enough sleep. He followed Kerry downstairs. Everyone was in the kitchen. Takemura was sitting off to the side. He didn’t look to fully be a part of the conversation. Nancy was on her feet again. She looked better, ignoring the stitches in her head. Silverhand possibly looked worse, but he was standing. Nancy and Vik were yelling at him, the three having two conversations at the same time.

“I’m not going to help you Johnny! No. No! This has gone too fucking far!” Nancy yelled.

At the same time, Vik got out, “I don’t care who the fuck you are. Right now, you’re my patient and I’m not going to have you dying because you wouldn’t take a second and fucking rest.”

Before Silverhand could respond to either of them, Kerry was already shouting. “You’re seriously trying to go after Smasher? After he almost killed you again!”

All four were now yelling at each other. Considering how V was just having trouble following one conversation, he chose to just sit next to Takemura. He caught little bits of information in all the shouting though and eventually turned to Takemura. There was at least something he could understand out of all this.

“So that’s why you stayed. Not to really rest, but to have the chance to ask Silverhand for help,” sighed V.

“My apologies. I did not mean to mislead.”

“I wouldn’t exactly say you mislead. I didn’t ask. Though I guess I am now. Rogue isn’t forcing you two together after all and you’ve already repaid your debt. Why ask for his help now?”

“Because if I have a single hope of reaching Yorinobu, I will need Smasher dead. I cannot defeat Smasher alone and there is but one I know who is stupid enough to help. It would appear our goals now truly do fall in line with each other.”

V hummed to himself as the other four continued to argue. Vik about Silverhand’s health. Nancy and Kerry about him being a moron. Silverhand about how none of them understood and could go fuck themselves. It wasn’t exactly constructive.

But then Nancy yelled something about him having a second chance at life that he was just throwing away. Something about it, maybe the way she’d said it. The tone. Something struck Silverhand and the entire feeling of the room shifted. Silverhand was still yelling, but everyone else had finally quieted. For once, V could only hear Johnny Silverhand as the words left his lips, tumbling out like a tsunami as everyone else around him stilled.

“I had my second fucking chance Nancy! You want to know where that took me? You want to know where I’ve been all these years? What I’ve spent my time on? I went south. I went over the seas. I went to Europe and right fucking back again. I started riots and I killed fuckers who thought they were untouchable! I did everything I’d spouted off in fucking song! I did everything that was in my god damn heart! I fought the fucking corpos and I watched my actions free people from their shitty fucking lives! I watched them wake up to how the world really fucking is! I did it and more. I accomplished my whole fucking schtick! And you want to know how it made me feel? You want to know what it was like after I finally did what I’d always said I would do?

“Well it was just as fucking empty as the rest of my shitty existence has been. I felt nothing! I did what I said I always wanted to do and I felt nothing! It didn’t fucking fix me! I actually changed shit for the better and I didn’t feel anything! Even the name Arasaka stopped getting my blood boiling! Everything I’d ever spouted and it didn’t change anything that mattered! Didn’t change me! You want to know why I ever came back? Why after all this, I would?

“Because when I still think of that fucking dog and how he’s pranced around for years claiming he killed me, I actually feel something again! I actually know my heart is still fucking beating! And maybe. Maybe if I can finally kill that monster. Rid the world of that fucking bastard. Maybe I’ll fucking feel something. Maybe my life will fucking mean something. Finally! Because I’ve played the fucking anarchist and all it’s given me is a bigger hole in my chest! You want to know what I’ve been doing all these years?

“Nothing! At least that’s what it’s fucking felt like. I have done nothing! I am nothing! I feel nothing and maybe by killing Smasher or finally dying by his fucking hand like I should have done all those god damn years ago will finally keep me from feeling so god damn fucking empty inside!”

The room was silent.

Kerry and Nancy, they just looked hurt. Takemura, who had originally been mostly ignoring the shouting, finally seemed to be thinking on what Silverhand just said. V didn’t know what to feel, but suddenly a much better understanding of the man finally started to form in V’s head. The legend. The rockerboy. The anarchist. All of it could be pushed aside. The truest image of Silverhand, V realized, was that one he’d seen in the restaurant. Just a sad, lonely man with a packet of smokes and a half finished drink.

“Well I don’t give a shit why you’re here, and the less I know the better,” Vik said, finally breaking the entire moment as eyes turned to him. “You’re my fucking patient and you’re going to rest. That’s it. Now you lot can all unpack that emotional fucking baggage, but I’m going to have another smoke and if I see you trying to sneak out of here, I’ll drag you back to that bed myself.”

With that, Vik took his leave. Takemura decided to use that for his opening to leave the room as well. V figured he might as well. This was not his place.

Nevertheless, the moment he moved, Kerry murmured, “V—”

“I’ll come back in a minute. If you want me. But you three need to talk.” Silverhand looked like he was about to sharply say something, and V quickly said, “Not fucking yell at each other. Just…fucking talk. Try at least. We’ll be outside.”

V followed Vik and Takemura outside. Vik just immediately started smoking while Takemura walked off. He seemed to find a spot in the sunlight. Taking a moment to himself as V stayed near Vik.

After a second, he murmured, “Do you think—”

“Nope. I am here for a job and that’s it. You want to talk shit, go over to your new friend or talk to your boyfriend and his mentally fucked family inside. I am not about to get involved in this.”

“Fair enough,” sighed V. “Pass me one?”

“Didn’t think you smoked,” Vik said, even as he handed one over.

V thought back to one time when Kerry had mentioned everyone in the band pretty much had a smoke before the show. A bad habit from Johnny. Heh. But V simply said, “Too early to start drinking.”

“You only slept through the day. It’s actually almost seven in the afternoon.”

“I stand by what I said.” He lit the cigarette and stayed outside with Vik as the sun slowly dipped lower and lower in the sky.


End file.
